Before : Wolverine and Sabretooth Growing Up
by Avirra
Summary: The pair that will grow up to feature as the main characters in my Life After the End of the World series.  This story begins not long after the deaths of John Howlette and Thomas Logan in the Wolverine : Origins movie.
1. Chapter 1

Before (Younger days of Wolverine and Sabretooth)

**Part I**

"Can you run, little brother?"

Those five words still haunted Jimmy as he huddled shivering in a cave. Most of it was cold, but part of it was fear. He had never spent so much as a single night away from his home before. Home. He didn't have a home any more. He couldn't start thinking about that. About his father. Both of his fathers. He couldn't **not **think of John Howlette as his father. He had been the only father he had ever known.

Until tonight. Until he was standing there with blood on his hands, looking from the claws he'd never known he had to the father he'd never known he had. Thomas Logan. The man who was his real father. The man he'd just killed as his mother screamed at him and disowned him.

He'd run into the night, as much to get away from her words as from his own actions. Then Victor had caught him, brought him down. And, even with their joint sire's blood still fresh on Jimmy's hands, Victor had claimed him as family. Victor didn't have a reason to run from the men who were coming to find Jimmy, but he sealed his bond and his fate by sticking with Jimmy and running away with him.

Jimmy still didn't know what they were going to do. He didn't even have any clothes other than the night shirt he'd been wearing. Victor had wrapped his coat around him and told him to stay here in this cave. But... what would he do if Victor never came back?

Not that Jimmy could bring himself to doubt that Victor would try. He had to cling onto the one thing he had left. But what if the men that had tried to chase them spotted him. Caught him. Would Victor be able to get away? And if he didn't? How long should he wait here?

He shrank back as he heard a soft noise outside. He could almost have wept with relief at the sound of Victor's voice, but he didn't. Without being told, he knew that he had to get tougher or neither of them would make it.

"It's okay, Jimmy - it's me."

There was a bundle tied to Victor's back that weighed nearly as much as Jimmy. He wondered how Victor had managed to get it here traveling through the snow.

"I couldn't get t' th' main house. Too many folks around, but nobody bothered goin' t' where I used t' live. Grabbed what food I could an' some o' my old clothes that're too small fer me now. They'll still be big on you, but you'll be lots warmer. Shoes are pretty worn out too, but they'll be better'n bare feet out here."

He brought out some stale bread and cheese, passing half over to Jimmy before eating some himself.

"Eat up. Got a few other things, but these'll go bad first if we don't eat 'em now. We can't afford t' waste anything. An' we need t' be gone 'fore mornin'. I'm sorry we can't get rest here, but I couldn't help but leave a pretty clear trail gettin' this stuff here. They'll be able t' go from th' cabin straight to this here cave."

Looking over, he could see Jimmy's eyes were bright. Tears, but unshed ones. Part of Victor wanted to sneer, part of him felt sorry for him. And for once, he didn't envy Jimmy the soft life he'd had. Victor's young life had been a slice of hell, but maybe there was something good he could make of it. He was strong - he could make his brother strong too.

And once they were both strong? It would be the two of them against the world. But right now? His little brother was still little. Still needed protecting. He was the eldest - he would have to prove he was man enough for the job.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part II**

Getting Jimmy ready to go took longer than Victor was comfortable with, but he did his best to stay patient and calm. Jimmy had to wear three pairs of socks plus tuck his pant legs down into the tops of them before they could get Victor's old worn boots to stay half-way decently on his feet. This was one of the few times that Victor was grateful that his father - their father - had generally been too drunk and too lazy to throw things away.

By the time they were through, Jimmy had on two old shirts over top of his nightshirt, a baggy pair of pants bunched and tied at the waist with cord, a cap about two sizes too big and Victor's older jacket. It was in rough shape, but between it and the layers beneath, Jimmy was reasonably warm. Victor made two bundles out of what was left. Jimmy got the light pack - a blanket with what remained of the clothing items inside of it. Victor's blanket pack had a couple of cooking pots, what other food he'd been able to find and a few other items like a tinder box. His father's hunting knife was strung onto his own belt now. He thought about giving Jimmy a knife as well, but figured they needed to wait until Jimmy was a little more ready for that.

As they left the cave, the sky to the east was already starting to get a little lighter. Victor grimaced at that, but not where Jimmy could see him. He knew his little brother was already exhausted. Making him worried wouldn't help either of them. Besides, as long as they had a head-start, they should be alright. Unless...

His mind suddenly raced to horses. And dogs. The men might do that - try to run them down that way. Especially as crazy as Jimmy's mother had been screaming. If she wasn't looking at her own son as human, why would they?

"Com'on, Jimmy. Just do yer best. I'll find us a place where you can get some rest soon. I promise."

Jimmy tried and tried hard, but he wasn't used to even being outside all day, let alone walking for hours on end. He was panting, but Victor was rather proud to see that Jimmy was also trying not to complain. Still, Jimmy practically collapsed when they stopped by a stream for a rest and some water.

Victor was tired himself, but he couldn't admit that to Jimmy or even to himself. If he gave out, Jimmy would too. So long as he forced himself to keep going, Jimmy would try.

"Victor? What's that over there?"

Lifting his head to follow to where Jimmy was pointing, Victor saw... well, he really wasn't sure what he was seeing.

"Dunno. Stay here an' guard our packs, Jimmy. I'll go check it out."

The dark area in the snow a few feet away from the bank proved to be blood and bones. From the tracks? Wolves. Hard to tell anymore what the bones had belonged to. Smaller scavengers had moved in when the wolves had finished and the bones were splintered and scattered.

Kneeling to examine it all, Victor frowned in thought. He looked around. He wasn't very heavy and the snow was so hard packed here now that he hadn't left any tracks at all. Not like the heavy and well-fed wolves had. His eyes narrowed. Well, one day, he and his brother would be the well-fed ones.

Then a slow smile formed. The more he thought about it, the more he thought it just might work. He practically ran back to Jimmy.

"We need that fancy sleep shirt o' yours, Jimmy. I think I can get 'em t' quit lookin' for us. Then we can travel easier."

Jimmy's eyes were both hopeful and confused, but he braved the cold long enough to strip down to his sleep shirt. It still had Thomas Logan's blood splattered all over it - he really didn't mind losing it.

Victor flexed one of his hands and then did one thing that Pa had always beat him for. He let his own claws out. Oh, nothing like those pig-stickers of Jimmy's, of course. More like the claws a big cat would have. Jimmy's eyes got a little wider as he watched them come out, then watched quietly as Victor used those claws to shred that shirt.

At Victor's instruction, they regathered their packs and walked over to where the remains of the kill were. Victor rubbed the ruined shirt over the ground until it was covered with dirt and old gore. Then he led Jimmy away to cross the stream, leaving the shirt behind with the scattered bones.

On the other side, Victor spotted a thicket of evergreens. There was a small clear area near the center after he and Jimmy pushed their way inside. They could see out fairly well, but Victor was pretty sure that the shadows in there would keep anyone from spotting them past the branches. Undoing their bundles, he laid one blanket on the ground for them to sit on and wrapped the other one around Jimmy.

"Get some sleep, Jimmy. I'll keep watch an' I'll wake you if they come."

Exhaustion took the fight out of Jimmy's objections and he fell asleep even while he thought he was arguing. Victor just smirked a bit as he found his lap being used as a pillow. He didn't mind though. He just needed to stay awake and on guard.

He didn't even realize he'd fallen asleep himself until the sound of horses woke him. Startled, he jumped enough that Jimmy woke as well. Thankfully, they both had enough presence of mind to keep quiet. The light had changed while they'd been sleeping. Victor was startled to realize it was very nearly sundown.

As their hearts practically pounded out of their chests, the boys saw five riders, coming slowly but steadily. The one in front reined his horse up and began gesturing to the others. Victor held his breath as they went over to where they'd left the night shirt. Another man dismounted and circled the area slowly before pulling out his knife and using it to lift the cloth up. Victor was rather surprised to find that he could hear the men very clearly. From the sharp intake of breath to his side, apparently Jimmy could hear them too.

"This looks like as far as those boys got."

"Reckon so. Lot farther than I'd have believed they could have run. Guess we'll never know what it was that happened back at the Howlette place now. Howlette and his wife both shot and their handyman killed by... some sort of animal."

"Think there's any point of looking for the Logan boy any further?"

"Nope. You can see marks where something got dragged off. Wolves must've ate the Howlette boy here and drug off the bigger boy for later. Let's go report back. Helluva thing. Two families wiped out overnight. Don't know about you boys, but tonight my doors will be locked and my gun will be in easy reach."

Not everything the men said was making a lot of sense to Victor, but the one thing was clear. Somehow, Jimmy's ma was dead too. He looked down at the tossled head by his side. This time, the tears were flowing, but they were flowing silently. They remained as they were until the men had stuffed the bloody shirt into a saddlebag and rode back out of sight.

Victor really wasn't sure what to do. Having grown up without ever being comforted himself, he didn't know how to give any comfort to Jimmy. Or even if he should try. Finally, he just laid his hand on Jimmy's shoulder awkwardly.

It was enough to open the gates and Jimmy broke into heaving sobs. Now there really was no chance of him ever going home. But what really distressed him came out between the sobs.

"Now... now... I... I.. can't even... tell her... I'm... sor... sorry..."

It wasn't easy for him to understand. Victor couldn't even clearly remember his own mother. Still, he just took hold of Jimmy and let him cling to him. Once he started to calm down some, Victor spoke. His voice was raw, but firm and sure.

"We're brothers, Jimmy. You an' me. I'll always look out for you. Things'll never be like they were, but we'll make our own life. Ain't nothin' going t' get th' better o' us so long as we're together."

Victor spoke with more confidence than he felt. It was winter. They had no home. Very little food. No one to turn to but each other. But something inside Jimmy rose up to that thread of stability that Victor offered and grabbed hold of it for dear life. He even managed a smile. A weak one, but he released his hold on Victor and wiped his face.

Reaching his hand to rest it on Jimmy's shoulder again, Victor managed a smile back.

"No snow on th' ground in here an' we're pretty well blocked from th' wind by th' branches. We'll eat a bite then sleep here until mornin' comes. They aren't after us no more, Jimmy. We're safe."

As they split a can of beans and settled down side-by-side to share both blankets and body heat, Victor didn't bother to mention that 'safe' was a relative term. They would still need to find food, shelter and figure a way to live. But for right now, they had food in their stomachs and nobody chasing them. And for now, that was enough.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part III**

The boys had to keep on constant move, not because of being chased, but because food was so scarce. Jimmy was getting stronger by the day, though his grief-dulled senses weren't noticing. The constant activity was building up the muscles he'd never really made use of before.

Other changes were happening too, so subtly that neither of them really took note. The cold wasn't bothering either of them like it had at the beginning. Their bodies were responding to being outside on a constant basis. The word mutant wouldn't have meant anything to them, but their powers were rising in them and altering them.

It wasn't until the second week that Jimmy came out of his grief and shock enough to register something. He wasn't eating the sort of food that he was used to, but he was eating three meals a day. Victor wasn't.

They'd fallen into a routine, of sorts. Victor would give Jimmy something to eat, then leave him alone at wherever they'd spent the night while he checked over the area to hunt for food and to get an idea of where they'd go next. When he came back, they'd have a small lunch together, pack up and move to the next spot. Once there, he'd give Jimmy something else to eat before going out to gather enough branches to make a fire for the night. They didn't have an axe to break down larger deadwood, so it took a lot of smaller branches to make it through the night. Victor didn't normally settle down for the evening until the stars were fully out.

Hunger wasn't a thing that Jimmy had ever experienced, but there was something about the drawn look that Victor was starting to get that worried him. When Jimmy remarked on it, Victor got sullen and didn't answer back until Jimmy pressed the point and, to his surprise, got snapped at. Victor quickly reined in his temper. Wasn't Jimmy's fault that hunting was bad, but it was hard enough having that constant familiar gnawing in his gut without being reminded of it. He tried to make light of it to cover his snapping.

"Yer used t' regular meals, Jimmy. I ain't. I've gone days without no food at all. You worry 'bout eatin' for you an' leave worryin' about what I eat t' me."

Unlike Jimmy, Victor had known hunger. A full stomach had been a much a rarer sensation for him. Even after he'd learned to hunt up his own food, if Pa saw it, he'd take it for himself. And then there were the time Pa would get drunk and lock him up in the dark cellar. Once he'd left him there three days before he got sober enough to notice none of the chores were getting done. Victor remembered the beating he'd gotten that day for leaving those chores undone.

Trouble was, food was hard to find. This was mid-winter and he didn't have anything for making snares or access to the places he'd known of back where they'd come from where he knew he could find rabbit burrows or bird nests. All he had was himself, his jack-knife and his father's old hunting knife. Even worse, what he did manage to catch was scawny with hardly enough meat to make them worthwhile.

Despite his bravado with Jimmy, the truth of the matter was that Victor was slowly starving. He was using a lot of energy scavenging for wood and trying to find something - anything - to eat. But he wasn't about to admit it even when he had to tighten the cord to keep his pants up.

It took two more days before Jimmy found his nerve and brought it up again. In a way that took Victor off-guard.

"I want you to teach me how to hunt. Now."

Turning to face Jimmy, Victor scowled.

"Now? You outta yer mind? Hard as it is for me to find anything t' hunt right now, how do you expect me t' show you how it's done?"

Jimmy drew himself up and did something new for him. He met Victor eye to eye and didn't break contact.

"You'd better do it anyway. You keep refusing to eat like you have been, you're going to collapse. And after you do, if I don't know how to hunt, we'll both starve. If I've at least got an idea what to do, maybe I can keep us going a little longer."

There was a long pause - long enough to make Jimmy wonder if he pushed too far, but not enough to make him back down. Then suddenly, Victor gave a laugh.

"I dunno if I should swat you one or be proud o' you. You wouldn't have stood up t' me two months ago."

"There's a lot I'm doing now that I hadn't done two months ago. And you said we'd look out for each other, Vic."

Another long pause. Jimmy managed not to flinch when Victor reached out for him. He still wasn't sure if he was going to get that swat or not. But Victor just took hold of Jimmy's shoulder and took a good, long look at him. What Victor was searching for, Jimmy hadn't a clue. But apparently he found it.

"Fine. I start teachin'. But two conditions. One - however I divide up th' food is how it goes. Two - I teach, you listen."

Much as he wanted to argue that first condition, the hard edge in Victor's eyes told Jimmy that he might as well try to argue to a rock. So he just nodded and Victor's posture relaxed. Then Victor gave him a crooked grin.

"This is gonna take gettin' used to, Jimmy. Never had anyone before to watch my back."

"You do now."


	4. Chapter 4

**Part IV**

Despite the fact that Jimmy was a quick and willing learner, they were both leaner by the time the first signs of spring arrived. But they'd also both grown stronger and more agile from the life they were living. They, of course, had no idea that part of that could be attributed to the continuing blossoming of their mutations. A normal pair of boys their age would have died from exposure or disease by this point. Their mutations were keeping them healthy, but exacting the price of needing food to fuel that healing. Of course, with food having been scarce, they just attributed being hungry to not having been able to catch enough, not to the fact that their appetites were increasing.

The best part of this new life for Jimmy was feeling so good. He had been a sickly child and forced to live the majority of his life indoors. Now? Now he wasn't so much as catching a sniffle. Every now and then, a memory of his home would darken his mood, but being able to run and jump the way he'd always dreamed of being able to was pure joy.

For Victor, this was the best time of his young life even with the confusion that comes with the teenage years. His body was just getting into the awkward stages of puberty and he really wasn't at all sure why his voice was doing weird stuff. Still, he had gotten to where he no longer jumped in his sleep thinking he heard his Pa sneaking up on him. Plus, watching Jimmy grow stronger and happier made him feel that he was doing something right. Jimmy had even managed to make use of his claws to spear the fish that they'd had for lunch. The full stomach he currently had did a lot to add to his overall feeling of well-being.

The sound of running water had Victor cautious though. That meant the snow was starting to melt in the mountains and that could mean the water could rise fast without much warning. If they were to keep going toward the rising sun the way they had been, they needed to cross the river, even though at this point, it wasn't much more than a large stream. The banks told a story though. River wasn't always this tame. There were no roads and no bridges, so that meant fording the icy-cold water or staying where they were until warmer weather. Even then, the running water wouldn't ever get warm, but at least it wouldn't have icy in it. But something inside Victor rebelled again waiting. It wanted on the other, higher bank and it wanted there **now**.

Jimmy didn't understand the urgency, which was only natural. Victor didn't understand it himself, but he finally said they'd have to take the chance and cross immediately. Even worse in Jimmy's opinion? He said they needed to do it without a stitch on.

"It's like this, Jimmy. We take off our stuff and tie 'em into a tight bundle with our coats on th' outside 'cause the coats shed water pretty well. Ain't no avoidin' gettin' wet when you cross a river, but this way, once we're across, we'll have somethin' dry t' put on after. We keep our clothes on, they'll be as wet as we are. An' they'll take a lot longer time t' dry than our skin will."

Well, it sort of made sense when Victor put it that way, so Jimmy swallowed both his concerns and his pride, stripping with his brother for the crossing. Victor took hold of his arm and pointed.

"See that ridge there, Jimmy? In case anything happens that separates us, that's where you head. I want us on high ground tonight."

The sense of urgency from Victor was feeding into Jimmy now and making him anxious to have the crossing over. Why it was so important to get to that higher ground? Victor hadn't the foggiest, but his guts were screaming at him and he decided it must know something he didn't.

He had JImmy go first so that he could keep an eye on him. By now, Victor had developed claws on his feet and he was trusting that they'd help him keep his footing. Jimmy didn't have those, so he wanted to be able to see if he slipped. Water was fast enough that Jimmy could get swept away awfully fast if that happened and his brother wasn't ready to grab for him.

The water wasn't terribly deep, but they still had a bad time keeping their feet beneath them. If the water had been any faster or deeper, they might not have been able to make it across. As it was, they were both panting by the time they reached the far bank, but Victor wouldn't let them stop to rest. Not until they'd climbed the ridge. Jimmy just bit his tongue. He wanted to complain that a few minutes to catch their breathe wouldn't hurt, but he didn't want to sound whiney. Besides, if Victor could still climb, well, he'd show him he could be tough too. He could climb as long as Victor could.

Even Victor had to take a breather before they reached the top though. When he finally hauled himself up the last bit, he reached down his hand and helped Jimmy over the lip. Then they both flopped down just a few feet from the edge and slept the sleep of the exhausted in the cold spring sunshine.

It was the noise that woke Jimmy up. A roaring sound that he'd never heard the like of before. Fortunately, he didn't jump any more than he did or he might have slid over the edge of the ledge. And one look down told him how bad that would have been. Reaching over, he grabbed Victor's arm. As the noise registered with the older boy, he scrambled around to get a look.

The river had gone from a quick flow to a raging torrent. Uprooted trees were bobbing along in the foaming, muddy waters. The cave near the river they'd spend the last night in was now somewhere under all that river water - the bank they had scrambled up just a few hours before? Vanished. The water was already a good third of the way up the ridge they were standing on to the point that Victor began to think that part of the ridge might give way, so he led the way further from the edge.

"Vic? How did you know?"

Jimmy's eyes were still wide, but from the excitement of the whole experience, not from the danger they'd narrowly averted. The flood hadn't gotten them and wasn't likely to now, so he could enjoy the raw power that nature was showing off.

"I didn't know, Jimmy. Honest I didn't. I just had a really strong feelin' in my guts that we had t' get movin'."

"Vic?"

"Yeah, Jimmy?"

"They get to feeling that way again, don't keep it to yourself."

Victor let out a laugh. A real honest one like he couldn't remember ever letting out before.

"I won't. Now get yer pants on, lil brother. We need t' find us a place t' sleep t'night."


	5. Chapter 5

**Part V**

It was just a few days after the flash flood that Jimmy decided to do a little exploring while Victor was scouting around. He wasn't planning on going too far, but something caught his nose's attention. It seemed like every day, he was hearing things he'd never heard before and smelling things that he didn't have names for.

This scent was... strong. Some kind of animal, but what kind? He couldn't even hazard a guess. He knew it couldn't be much further though. Jimmy didn't want to get too close to whatever it was. He just wanted to get a look at it so he could put a label on that smell.

Then he came around a dead tree, froze and swallowed hard. The animal in front of him was huge. Really huge. One of its massive front paws looked like it was as wide as his body. The smell from its dark brown pelt was nearly overwhelming. Worse? Whatever this thing was, it was obviously in a very bad mood and then it reared up on its hind legs. It was taller than any man Jimmy had ever seen in his life, so he knew it was over six feet tall.

It dropped back down and roared at him, striking out with one of those huge paws. The cry of pain from him was cut off as his body hit the ground several feet away from where he had been standing.

Victor had just been starting back to get Jimmy when he heard the roar not too far away and stopped. The next sound he heard got him into a frantic run. Jimmy.

When he burst in on the scene, all the rush of sights, sounds and scents practically overwhelmed him. He knew what a grizzly was - one rare trip to town, he'd seen a dead one on the back of a wagon. He'd thought the claws and teeth of the animal were pretty impressive then, but they were nothing compared to them on a live and mad bear. The bear was shuffling toward a crumpled figure on the ground. Then his nose was filled with another scent. Blood. Jimmy's.

Jimmy could see the bear approaching, but he couldn't get his body to move. He could feel the blood soaking into his shirt and knew the claws had raked him badly. He was having trouble getting his breath back too. Not that he figured any of that was going to matter any more. The bear was coming and Jimmy didn't think he'd alive through the next attack.

Then he heard a different roar. Nowhere near as loud as the grizzly's had been, but angrier. It took him a minute to focus his vision, then he saw Victor was charging at the bear and his blood went cold.

If he'd been able to get enough breath to yell, he would have told Victor to get away. The thought that Victor was going to die too? He pressed his eyes shut as the noises grew horrible. Grunts and screams and other noises he preferred not to speculate on.

Finally, there was silence. Jimmy kept his eyes shut. He was sure that meant Victor was dead and the bear was coming over to finish him off as well. He'd prefer not to watch when the bear took the final blow.

Nothing happened though. Long seconds passed, then he finally steeled himself and opened his eyes. His eyes opened even wider as he saw the bear on the ground in a heap. It looked... dead?

Swallowing again, Jimmy tried to take another breath. He was able to get some air this time and it helped give him the strength to slowly, painfully turn over. That was when he saw Victor. Or what was left of Victor.

The shock of seeing the broken looking, bloody body was broken by a weird feeling coming from his own body. Jimmy pulled away part of his ruined shirt and stared. Right in front of his eyes, rips in his side were getting smaller. Closing up. He was still covered with blood, but there wasn't any new bleeding.

He gently touched the edge of one wound, marveling at the feel as the flesh beneath his fingers pulled together again. Then he looked back over to where Victor's body was. Brothers. They both had claws. Maybe?

It took a lot of his strength to scramble over to Victor's side, but what he saw confirmed it. Victor was unconscious, but alive. The breathing was shallow and ragged as Jimmy reached out to lay his hand on his brother's chest. He could feel it. Victor's body was fighting to pull itself back together again.

Wiping his face, Jimmy took a good look around. Fire. He needed to make a fire here to keep the wild animals away that the dead bear might attract. He could use that fire to cook up some of that bear too. Serve it right to be turned into a meal after it tried to make one out of him.

It took some doing to get the fire going right - Jimmy had helped tend a fire, but Victor had always been the one to start them until now. He finally got it going well and even had managed to get some hunks of bear meat carved off and spitted. That hadn't been easy either - at least not until he thought to make use of his claws. The cutting was a lot easier then.

Now that those basics were taken care of, Jimmy settled now next to Victor and took a deep breath. There were so many, many wounds. He picked one, carefully pressed the edges of it together and was rewarded by the sight of Victor's body taking advantage of it to start the mending at that wound. He spent the next hour going from wound to wound until Victor started to cough up some blood. Jimmy hurried to help roll Victor onto his side so it wouldn't choke him.

As his eyes opened, Victor's sight was bleary, but since he'd figured he should have been dead, bleary vision and the burning ache in his chest weren't all that unwelcome. His stomach was screaming for food and water, both of which Jimmy helped him with. That puzzled him somewhere in the back of his head, but Victor couldn't focus well enough to remember why it was odd that Jimmy was moving around.

Cutting the meat that had already been cooked into smaller pieces, Jimmy fed the pieces to Victor one at a time. Carrying water to him was trickier, but he managed. It didn't take long to see a difference. Once food was in Victor's stomach, his wounds were getting smaller at a faster rate. Jimmy ate some himself after Victor went to sleep. It was a long night for Jimmy, but he kept putting more meat to cook over the fire and kept the fire going. Whenever Victor made a brief return to consciousness, he'd feed him again.

When dawn finally broke, he was exhausted, but rather proud of himself for staying awake the whole night. Then he turned from watching the sun rise at the sound of a gasping breath. Victor was awake again. Not only awake, but moving some.

Sitting up was a long and still painful process, but Victor was determined. His chest felt like it was on fire as he took deeper and deeper breaths of air. Then he saw Jimmy sitting nearby, looking relieved. Covered with blood. Both of them were. Their own and the bear's.

That reminded him of something else and Victor turned his head to look over the remains of the bear. Jimmy hadn't done a very skillful job of butchering the beast, but he'd done well enough for practical purposes. He looked over to the fire with some cooked meat beside it resting on rocks and more meat over the fire.

His head was still a bit foggy, but growing clearer by the minute. He pulled off the remains of his shirt that was stiff with dried blood and gore. His torso was still a mess as Victor ran his fingers over it. Scars. Dozens of them. But fading before his eyes.

The smell of approaching food drew his attention and he met Jimmy's eyes before shifting his eyes down to Jimmy's own torn shirt. No fresh blood.

"Jimmy? You heal up th' way I am?"

"Sure did."

Handing the meat over to Victor, Jimmy knelt down next to him and told him all about the night before. Victor just ate quietly and listened until Jimmy reached the end.

"Vic? People don't normally heal like this, do they? What does it mean?"

Victor looked from Jimmy to the bear and back again. Then he slowly smiled.

"I'll tell you one thing that it means, lil brother. Means me an' you aren't going to go hungry again."


	6. Chapter 6

**Part VI**

The boys stayed by the bear the rest of that afternoon, cooking as much of the bear meat as they could during that time. Victor wanted them gone before dark though, so they left themselves a couple of hours of light to travel. As Victor pointed out, not only would all the blood smell from the butchering they'd been doing draw more animals, but the carcass was going to be stinking from rot soon and, keen as their noses had gotten lately, who wanted to be close to that?

Clothing scraps were used to bundle up the meat and keep flies off of it until they were ready to eat it. Jimmy just kind of snorted and noted that clothing scraps was just about all that bear had left them. Their blankets were getting holes as well.

As they walked, Victor took stock of what little they had left and frowned. He needed to find them some supplies, but how he was going to do that? That he had no ideas on. Yet. But he had his mind working on it as they walked and continued to puzzle on it after they'd found a place to shelter for the night.

It turned out to be a good thing they had that bear meat. A crack of thunder woke them before dawn and then it rained like someone had overturned a water barrel. There wasn't a chance of making a fire. Everything was far too wet to even make the attempt. So their meal was the leftover bear meat they'd brought with them. After eating, Victor left Jimmy in that relatively dry spot to guard their remaining food while he went scouting.

The rain wasn't showing any signs of slacking. Which was why it drew Victor's attention so sharply when he caught a faint whiff of smoke. There was only a second or two of indecision before he started following the scent. Wherever that fire was, it was undercover. Probably a shack or cabin, but where you found those, you found supplies.

Where his nose led him was to a small cabin with an even smaller stable near it. Smoke was coming from a rough stone chimney - the cabin didn't look very well maintained, so Victor approached it cautiously.

He was still getting used to sorting out the stories his nose was trying to tell him and he wasn't very good at it yet. Man. At least one. Maybe two. Some sort of horsey type animal, but not a horse? He just growled lightly to himself and moved closer.

Getting a look at the pair of animals standing in the stable didn't help him much with figuring them out. They sort of looked like horses that someone had stuck rabbit ears on as a joke. The animals seemed as curious and puzzled with his scent as he was with theirs.

A clattering noise from inside the cabin drew his attention back away from the rabbit-horses. Reluctantly, he left them behind and walked around the cabin until he spotted the door. The reek of cheap whiskey reached his nose. Victor's eyes grew cold and hard at that smell. That reminder of his Pa was unwelcome, but he resolved himself to go knock on the door. He and Jimmy needed things. Maybe he could do some chores in trade.

The man that opened the door was burly and half-bald. What hair he had left was stringy, mostly grey with just enough blonde left to show what color it used to be. A sight like Victor was likely the last thing he expected at the door. A drenched young teen wearing ragged pants, worn-out boots and not much else.

"Damnation, Rory. Co'mere an' take a look what th' rain washed outta th' holes."

Another man, presumably Rory, staggered to the door. He was either the drunker of the two or didn't hold his liquor as well.

"Well I'll be damned, Willie. Hey boy - where th' hell'd you pop up from?"

Telling the truth wasn't an option, so Victor spun a quick tale. Enough was true to keep it straight in his head so he wouldn't get confused if he had to retell it.

"Me an' my little brother - we got separated from our folks by the river flood. I guess they're gone for good, so it's just me an' him now. All we got left is what we were wearin' and it's all in pretty bad shape. If you got anything you can spare, I'll work t' pay you for it."

Rory apparently though that was hilarious and started guffawing. Willie narrowed his eyes and grabbed hold of one of Victor's arms. Victor steeled himself again and restrained the urge to fully extend his claws.

"Seem like a strong boy. Got muscles. Yer brother strong enough t' work too, boy? He must be pretty close if yer here. Should bring him on here 'fore it gets dark. Rory can take th' mules an' go fetch him."

Victor took a deep breath - which he regretted due to the reek from the pair which was definately not improved by being closer to them. The man's tone had him edgy, but maybe that was the whiskey smell making him feel that way. Either way, Jimmy didn't need to be around this pair. Mules? Must be what those rabbit-horses were really called.

"He'll be fine where he is. Said I'd do work. Didn't say nutthin' 'bout my brother workin'."

"True. Rory! Pull yerself t'gether an' open th' hatch where we got our extra gear stowed so we can see what we might can spare an' what work we'll need outta him t' pay for it."

Rory was still doing a weird snorting laugh as he kicked a skin to the side and grabbed onto the edge of the hatch set into the floor that covered their cellar. When Rory waved him over, Victor went over and took a look cautiously - but not quite cautiously enough. A hard shove from Willie from behind caught him off balance and he crashed to the ground about eight feet below.

"You can sit down there in the dark awhile until you decide t' tell us where t' find yer brother, boy."

And with that, they let the hatch slam back into place.


	7. Chapter 7

**Part VII**

It was a long day for Jimmy. He really wasn't used to be alone for long periods of time. Back when he was sickly, a nurse or some other member of the staff was never far from him in case he needed them. Fortunately, Victor had given him a job and that was keeping him from getting too bored as the rain kept falling. He was working on one of the dozen or so sticks that Victor had left for him, carefully using Victor's old jack-knife to whittle one end of each of them to a point.

Every so often, he looked toward the entrance, but he didn't really worry any more about whether or not Vic was coming back. He always did. Besides, he'd said that with the way the weather was today, if he ended up too far away near dark, he'd just find a semi-dry spot and return in the morning. Jimmy had things to do, a fairly dry spot to sit and lay down plus the cooked bear meat he could chew on whenever he was hungry. One thing Vic had found on one of his scouting trips was an old tin cup someone had abandoned because the handle was torn up. Jimmy had put it out onto a rock within reach of the entrance where the clean rainwater could fall into it, so he could even get a drink and only get his arm wet. No, no reason to worry at all.

Elsewhere, Victor was slowly waking in the musty dark to the smell of stale whiskey, the taste of blood in his mouth and a throbbing pain in his left arm. His initial reaction was panic. He was still disoriented enough from hitting the hard dirt floor that, for a second, he was back home. Waiting for his Pa to come down with whatever he'd grabbed to 'teach a lesson' with. A chain. Pliers. The ax. His guts twisted at the memories. Then the pain helped clear the fog in his head enough that he remembered where he was. A low growl began in the back of his throat. That sound surprised him as much as the roar that had come out of him when he was attacking that bear. There was more than just a little something different between him, his brother and the rest of the world. He was getting surer of that by the day, but not really sure what that meant for the two of them. First things first though.

His left arm was in an unnatural position. Broken. Not the first time, so he knew what had to be done even though the thought of doing it made his stomach hurt again. He consoled himself with the fact that the bone wasn't sticking out through his skin this time. Feeling carefully around in the pitch darkness, he finally found a place he could wedge his wrist. Then he tried to jerk the bone back in line. He certainly didn't mean to do it, but he screamed as his attempt didn't do anything but send pain shooting through his body. A minute later, a sudden shaft of light blinded him, then he saw Rory's head poking down through the hatch.

"Hell, Willie. Boy fell wrong an' broke his damn arm. You better go set it or he won't bring us enough t' get even a bottle o' rotgut."

There was some cursing upstairs followed by even more cursing as Willie climbed down the narrow ladder. Rory lowered a lantern on a rope down so that Willie could see what he was doing.

"Hold still, boy. Less'n you want t' be a cripple th' rest o' yer life."

In spite of his own desires on the subject, Victor did hold still. He screamed again when the bone was jerked back into alignment before Willie strapped the arm to a piece of board to keep it from moving again. The pain didn't last long. In fact, the odd sensation was telling Victor that whatever it was his body did to do it, his arm was pulling itself back together just the way his skin had. He managed to catch his breath and speak as Willie started back up the ladder.

"You plannin' on sellin' me?"

Willie paused on the ladder and looked back down at the boy. He was already surprised the boy hadn't blacked out from having his arm set and now, here he was asking a question with no pain in his voice. Didn't even sound upset. That bothered Willie. Didn't seem natural.

"You an' yer brother both, boy. We know a fella runs a mine. He needs pit boys an' boys o' any age are in short supply in these parts. Sooner you tell us where t' find him, sooner you can come outta this hole."

The lantern was pulled up and the hatch slammed shut again, cutting off the light. Victor knew what a pit boy was. His Pa had threatened to get him a job as one once when he was smaller. Even went so far as to drag him to a mining area to show him the boys as they came out of the mines at the end of their day. Every single one of them was pale from never being in the sunshine and smudged with black streaks from head to toe. Threat never really worked though. Sure, his Pa could have made him go to work there, but then his Pa would have had to do the chores himself. Fat chance of that.

Running his right hand through his wet hair, he considered the work. They'd be fed an' clothed, but that'd be about it. Probably just enough food and rest to keep them going, especially if this mining guy was going to own them. He'd make sure he got his money worth and after that? No telling. Victor knew the sort of work the pit boy did in the mines, leading the ponies through the shafts and going into the other tight spaces where a grown man didn't fit well. He'd heard tell they even used boys as young as five. Wasn't the sort of life he wanted for himself or Jimmy though. Even if the man owning the place offered to pay them. Which he wouldn't be likely to do. Be in the man's own interests to work them until they dropped and then make sure they disappeared. Not like anyone would come looking after they were gone and there wouldn't be anyone to bring up anything the owner might find hard to answer if a mine inspector ever came around.

No. Being shut up in a mine shaft twelve hours a day was way too much like the cellar back home. The cellar here.

Victor felt his stomach grumble, then laid down and forced himself to try to nap. He needed to bide his time until his arm was whole again. And then? Then he might just let those men see what he thought about their plans for him and his little brother.


	8. Chapter 8

**Part VIII**

Victor woke to the sound of the men starting to haul open the hatch again. Feeling carefully, he used a claw to slice through the straps the held the board to his arm then worked the fingers on his left hand. His plan was pretty simple. Get out of this cellar and run. Men seemed to stay pretty well drunk, so he doubted they'd be able to catch him once he made it outside. He'd go straight to Jimmy and the two of them would take off. Travel would be hard in this weather, but they'd manage somehow. Important thing was making sure these men didn't get anywhere near Jimmy.

He laid back down as if asleep just before the light streamed back into the space.

"Dammit, Willie - I thought you were gonna strap a board on that boy's arm so it would heal straight."

"I did. Well, hell... strap musta broke."

The noises told Victor that the man was coming down the ladder again. He tensed and waited until he heard the scrape of wood as Willie picked the piece of board up off the floor. That's when he made his move.

Coming up from the floor fast, he gave Willie a hard shove to throw him off-balance. The shove didn't feel like an adequate payback for what had been done to him, but Victor wanted out more than he wanted revenge. As he headed up the ladder, he could hear Rory curse and move off, but so long as that man wasn't between him and the door, Victor didn't care. He scrambled out of the cellar, yanked the cabin door open and ran. He was maybe three feet from the door before the explosion of the rifle shot went off behind him and sent him down into the mud.

Jimmy had dozed off when the sound of the rifle shot startled him awake, heart pounding. Like the dark cellar had done to Victor, that sound took Jimmy back to a place he didn't want to be. It also ended him not worrying about Victor. Indecision ate at him now. He could head in the direction the shot had come from, but there was a chance it didn't have anything at all to do with Victor. But what if it **did** have something to do with him?

Biting his lip, Jimmy made his decision and went to work packing up their stuff. He wasn't going to just sit here. Not when Victor might need him.

At the same moment, back at the cabin, Willie was yelling at Rory as they went out into the rain, stomping through the muck to where the boy's body was laying.

"Damn idiot! Couldn't you figure any other way t' stop him? Mine ain't gonna pay us for a dead kid."

"Calm down 'fore you burst a vein, Willie. We wouldn't have got much for a kid with a broke arm no how. We'll find th' brother. He's bound t' be close."

Rory gave Victor's body a nudge with the toe of his boot, staring down at it for a minute with a confused look on his face before turning his head to call over his shoulder.

"Hey Willie - co'mere an' take a look at ..."

Whatever Rory had been about to say was choked off as he suddenly found himself with the air forced out of his lungs by an impact. The rifle fell into the mud as Rory turned his head back incredulously and saw the boy he thought he'd killed standing in front of him. Both hands prominently clawed, bloody and currently full of Rory's intestines.

"Holy merciful..."

Willie's staring at his dying partner ended when the boy turned his head to look at him with a look that he'd seen once before when he'd come across a cougar over it's kill. Without another word, he turned to run only to be hit from behind and propelled into the mud. Turning over to try and defend himself, his blood froze as he saw the boy approaching with a reddish tinge to his eyes.

"No! Stay away from me! You ain't human!"

Victor stopped just short of the man. Human? He thought about his Pa. Then he thought about these two before he looked back down at his claws. And smiled.

"You know what, mister? I think that's th' nicest thing anyone's ever said t' me."

Jimmy's head jerked up again as he heard a roar echoing through the night. The same one Vic had made when he'd gone after that bear. His heart was pounding again. He didn't know why he was sure, but he had the feeling that somebody had just died. He was also pretty sure that somebody wasn't his brother.


	9. Chapter 9

**Part IX**

Much as he wanted to get back to check on Jimmy, Victor took the time to drag the bodies of the two men a fairly good distance away from the cabin. He didn't figure there would be much left in a couple of days once the wild animals found them. That done, he took another look at the mules, another look at the cabin, then headed back for Jimmy.

He was a bit surprised to meet Jimmy part way there. Jimmy hurried over, looking Victor over as he came. Nothing obvious wrong, but there was something just a little different. Nothing he could really point to and say it had changed, but something had.

"Are you okay, Vic? I heard a shot."

He hesitated in answering, but Victor knew that while Jimmy might be naive, he wasn't stupid. So he turned a bit so that Jimmy could see the last of the wound that was healing under his ribcage.

"Came across a pair o' trappers. One o' 'em shot me in th' back when I was tryin' t' run after I found out they weren't 'xactly friendly."

He edited out the broken arm and the cellar. Cellars wouldn't mean anything to Jimmy unless he told him and he really didn't feel like dragging those memories out again.

Jimmy didn't have to move closer to see the remains of the wound, but he did any way. Then he swallowed.

"I heard the roar, too. Those men. They... you... "

Victor turned back around. He wasn't sure why it bothered Jimmy to say it. The men had deserved what he'd done to them and then some.

"They're dead if that's what yer askin'. Since you got our stuff with you, come on. There's a cabin we can make use of over here."

Jimmy didn't move though. And he was paler than usual.

"It was their cabin, wasn't it? We can't use that! You... killed them!"

The tone Jimmy was used verged on the hysterical. Victor scowled, then sighed as he reminded himself again that Jimmy had never been out much before they'd had to run.

"It ain't like I killed 'em t' take their stuff, Jimmy. I asked if they had stuff they didn't need that we could use an' I offered t' **work** for it. I didn't lay a hand on either o' 'em until after they got mean. Okay?"

From the expressions going across his face, Jimmy was struggling with all of this. Victor took another deep breath and laid his hand on Jimmy's shoulder At least he didn't flinch away. It was odd for him to feel that way, but Victor didn't think he could stand it if Jimmy ever shied away from him.

"I ain't gonna be sorry for what I did, Jimmy. I know yer upset, but not using that stuff in th' cabin is plain wasteful. It'll just rot out here an' not be any good t' anyone. Plus, we don't go there, the mules they had'll starve. Those guys mighta asked for it, but those mules sure didn't. Be cruel t' do that t' 'em, wouldn't it?"

It wasn't that Victor had a soft spot for animals, but he knew that Jimmy did. And sure enough, that seemed to tip the scales.

"Mules?"

"Yep. Two o' 'em. I'm pretty sure I saw feed for 'em. We'll tend them until the weather clears up some, then we'll take 'em with us when we leave. Keep 'em safe from the predators that'd kill an' eat 'em if we just let 'em loose around these parts."

Victor started walking toward the cabin then and was pleased that Jimmy fell in step with him without needing any additional coaxing. He was more than a little glad now that he'd taken the time to drag off the bodies. The continuing rain had already done a lot to wash away the blood and get rid of most of the blood smells.

First stop was the stables to show Jimmy the mules. The mules seemed equally fascinated by Jimmy's scent, but not upset by him either as the two boys set to work making sure the animals had food. There was already plenty of water in their trough so they didn't need to worry about that. Victor noted with approval that there was a rain barrel too.

"There. That'll do 'em until tomorrow. Let's go inside now."

As they went around to the front, some of the lingering smells caught Jimmy's nose. Blood - Victor's was the only one he knew. That surprised him some when he realized that he **could** pick out that Victor had shed blood here. Closer to the door, the gunpowder smell was still strong where the cabin had kept some of the smell out of the rain. He hesitated, then went inside. There was a hole in the floor with a propped up hatch behind it. Moving near it, he sniffed then frowned. Victor's scent was coming from down there too. Victor has lost blood down there too. There was obviously more to this story than Victor had told him, but he decided not to ask more questions. Victor was already moody enough.

Coming back in, Victor gave the hole a glare, then slammed the hatch down and drug the skin back over it to cover it up. Then he went over to where the table was. His mood immediately shifted as he began looking over the room curiously. That alone told Jimmy that Victor hadn't been inside this cabin. Not past that hole any way.

"Come on over with what's left o' that bear meat, Jimmy. Fire's still good, so we can reheat it an' we got some stuff we can have along with it in here."

Supplies were plentiful which made Victor hazard the guess that the two had just returned to their old cabin with their supplies, coming early to beat the thaws. A lot of the streams and rivers were going to be impassable now until the melt finished up and the waters went back inside their normal banks.

Might take some convincing on Jimmy's part, but Victor thought they could do a lot worse than spending the early spring here, then head out before the summer heat got too bad. That would give the ground a chance to firm back up as well as for the rivers to go back down. He was sure he could win Jimmy over, so he pulled down a pack of crackers and a can of peaches to go with what was left of the bear. All of the healing Victor had had to do showed with the amount of food he ate.

The storm outside seemed to be getting worse, but they had a roof over their heads again. Victor picked one of the two cots and was soon in an exhausted slumber. Jimmy took the other cot, but he had more trouble going to sleep. The lingering scents of two dead men he'd never even so much as seen haunted him. He looked back over to where Victor was sleeping and shuddered just a little. He knew killing was wrong, but he couldn't blame Victor for what he'd done. It was just...

Jimmy held out his right hand and extended his own claws, so different than his brother's, but so much alike. Now, they'd both killed men with their claws. The only nagging part in Jimmy's head was how it seemed that the killings didn't bother Victor the way that they bothered him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Part X  
><strong>  
>As he'd expected, Victor didn't have a lot of trouble convincing Jimmy to stay for awhile. Especially after he pointed out that they could use the time for hunting and tracking lessons that they normally would have had to spend looking for a new place to stay. The weather still wasn't very warm, but it was mild enough that they didn't bother with clothes past the loin clothes they'd rigged for themselves (as Victor pointed out, there were some things a guy didn't want to get caught on a thorn bush). A pond not too far away proved to have decent fishing as well, so life that spring proved to be pretty easy on the pair.<p>

By mid-spring, Jimmy's color had improved to the point where someone meeting him for the first time would never guess that he'd ever been sickly. Victor taught him how to swim and the two of them had enough time to themselves that they even began wrestling each other for fun. At first, there really wasn't much of a contest, but Jimmy began to slowly grow broader in the chest. Victor still won, but the matches were starting to last longer. Mainly because even when he was losing, Jimmy would refuse to give up. Just like when they were climbing that ridge, he was determined that anything Victor could do, he could do.

It both pleased and annoyed Victor to see Jimmy's growing confidence. Pleased when they were in full agreement - annoyed when what Jimmy wanted clashed with what he wanted. That really didn't happen too often though. Most of the spring was spent on the few chores that were necessary and the rest of the time was theirs to hunt, fish, swim and play. Playing had never really been a part of Victor's life before and Jimmy didn't have a lot of experience with outdoor play either, so it ended up more in the form of contests. Who could climb a tree quicker. Swim to the other side faster. Get back to the cabin first.  
>All that activity over the spring did its work on both boys. Victor had always worked hard, but never had enough food for his body to fill out. On the other side of the coin, Jimmy had always had plenty of food, but no exercise. For the first time, each of them had plenty of both.<p>

Spring was starting to fade into summer when Victor looked outside one morning. Much as he'd enjoyed the spring, if he and Jimmy were going to reach a decent sized settlement before mid-summer, they needed to get started.

"Time t' pack up what we need an' head on, Jimmy. Mid-summer's likely t' be hot this year. Best t' have a good piece o' territory behind us 'fore then."

Joining Victor at the door, Jimmy looked outside himself and scowled. That was another thing that both amused and annoyed Victor. Jimmy was starting to pick up some of his expressions.

"Why? Why can't we just stay here for the summer and winter? Head out in the late winter before the thaws come again."

That took Victor off-guard. He'd thought that Jimmy would want to get back around towns and other folks. Then again, he couldn't deny that Jimmy seemed happy here with just the two of them.

"You want t' stay here? Ain't likely t' be another soul for miles. 'Specially when winter moves in again."

His mind was already working. He only knew the rough basics of cooking and nothing at all of how to preserve food. Still, once the snows came, the cold outside should keep any meat they caught from rotting. One fang protruded over his lower lip as he considered. They really hadn't eaten many of the supplies. They'd been eating what they'd gathered and caught mostly so there were plenty of dried beans and canned goods left. He wasn't at all sure how long they'd be good for, but he reckoned that they should be good until spring.

"I... guess we could. Be a lotta work though, little brother. We'll have t' get wood enough an'.."

The grin from Jimmy cut him off.

"We can do it. I know we can. I'm stronger now. And we have an ax now. And the mules can help."

The enthusiasm made Victor smile, but he paused and looked around them. Cabin wasn't the greatest, but they'd survived in caves. Cabin had to be better than a cave, right?

"Alright. We'll try it. We might both get thin again 'fore spring, but we'd be takin' that chance any where we went. We've got to keep putting th' mules out t' crop grass an' stop givin' them any o' th' other feed. We'll have t' save that for their winter food now."

Jimmy whooped, running on outside as Victor watched him and chuckled. Hell, they'd made it through last winter with less. A lot less. He went out into the sunshine to join his brother.


	11. Chapter 11

**Part 11**

The passing of weeks proved Victor's guess that mid-summer was going to be hot was a good one. The boys took to spending most of their days by either the pond or the river, using the water to help keep cool and catching fish for their meals. They'd bring the mules with them and put out the picket lines for them so the animals could crop grass and leaves or go get some water whenever they liked.

By now, they'd been on their own for over half a year. Victor's hair had been longer to start with, but now they were both fairly shaggy. Jimmy's hair fell a little strangely, but it didn't bother either of them. For his part, Victor had found some lacing that he made use of to tie his own hair back out of his way. They looked as wild as any other creature they came across out in this wilderness.

They had also been slowly making discoveries about themselves. By comparing notes, they were learning how to identify what they were smelling. Same with the sounds they could hear now. If they stayed well-fed and rested, no injury lasted on them very long. Not cuts, not insect bites, not sunburn.

Another discovery they made the hard way. The boys were spending the day gathering wood. Victor was pulling a fairly large dead branches out of some undergrowth so that they could crop them down into more managable pieces. Jimmy was already working with the ax on the first branch when he heard Victor scream out in pain. He immediately dropped the ax and ran. Victor wasn't the type to yell even when he was hurt, so Jimmy knew it had to be bad. He could see Victor holding onto his right arm as Victor heard him coming and turned his head quickly.

"Jimmy! Stay back!"

At Victor's voice, Jimmy stopped and saw something next to Victor hit him on his right hand. From Victor's expression, that had hurt considerably as well. That was when Jimmy heard a high-pitched noise. Reminded him of a loud insect, but then he finally got a clear look at the animal. It was a rattlesnake - a big one. Apparently he'd been hiding under the branch that Victor was moving. The snake wasn't at all happy. It was puffed up, coiled and looked ready to strike at Victor again as he tried to move away from it.

If Jimmy had stopped to think what he was doing, he might have stayed frozen. But something inside him seemed to click and react. His claws came out and he moved for the snake. It turned its attention toward him and struck, only to fall to the ground in pieces. The head was still opening and closing as if still trying to bite him. Jimmy ignored it though and went over to help Victor.

The only indications that the snake had bit him at all were four tiny drops of blood, but small as the marks were, Victor was in a lot of pain. It took some doing as Victor was bigger, but Jimmy managed to get his brother inside the cabin and to his cot. The next few hours were miserable for Victor. He'd been bitten on both his right hand and wrist. At first, the problem was the pain - Victor mumbled something like it felt like the bites were on fire. His breathing got forced not long after they reached the cabin. And then the swelling started - swelling that Jimmy wouldn't have believed to have been possible. If it continued, he was afraid the skin would split open.

Neither of them had ever dealt with a snake bite or even heard stories about them, so Jimmy didn't have a clue what to do. He finally settled on getting water and taking a cool rag to Victor, washin the swollen arm and Victor's face to try and keep his fever down. After awhile, he noticed something odd. The skin around the bites had taken a blackish color and there were pockets of liquid forming under the skin. Sort of like blisters.

Victor had fallen into a feverish sleep, so Jimmy didn't want to wake him. Instead, he sat there and puzzled things out. He'd seen the servants around the house get hurt. He knew for a fact that he'd never seen anyone but himself and Vic heal up the way they had after that bear. He may not know what should be done for a rattlesnake bite, but he did know they were poisonous. Maybe Vic's body was trying to shove out the poison?

Slowly, Jimmy extended one claw as he kept looking at the swollen arm. He was pretty sure what he was thinking about doing wouldn't work for regular folks, but it just might work for his brother. He took a deep breath as he tucked a cloth under Victor's arm.

"I'm sorry, Vic.."

First he used the tip of his claw to puncture the tops of the blister-like swellings. Yellow oily fluids ran down onto the cloth. Jimmy carefully cleaned off the tip then got ready for the worst part. Vic had only stirred for the prickings, but Jimmy doubted he'd be able to ignore what was coming next. He thought briefly of using one of the knives, but he knew they weren't as sharp.

The swollen flesh felt strange as he used his left hand to pin Victor's hand down. That action got a slight reaction. His claw entering the blackened flesh to cut it away got a far stronger reaction. It was a sign of how badly the poison had affected him that Victor wasn't able to pull away. He wasn't even able to remain conscious through the whole cutting process. Jimmy just bit his lip and kept himself focused until he'd cut away all of the dead areas. Next he washed off the arm, then gathered up the cloth stained by venom, flesh and blood. They built their cook fires outside in hot weather. There were still enough hot coals left to burn the cloth. He didn't stay to watch it burn.

Inside, Victor's eyes were still closed but his breathing was less labored. Even better, the swelling that had threaten to split his skin open was starting to visibly subside. Jimmy was slightly surprised to see that the places he'd cut open hadn't started to heal, but then he saw more drops of that oily yellow liquid slowly rolling down from the open sores. He washed the arm off again in cool water and settled down to keep an eye on Victor for however long it took him to wake back up.


	12. Chapter 12

**Part XII  
><strong>  
>The moon was high overhead when Victor finally took a deep breath and opened his eyes. One of the first things he saw was the top of Jimmy's head where he fallen asleep with his head resting against the cot.<p>

He noticed his right arm was still being contrary about moving to his desires, so he reached over with his left hand and ruffled Jimmy's hair. Victor also noted that he still felt bad, but he could also feel that improving. His voice was still rough, but steady.

"Leave anythin' t' eat, Jimmy?"

The head jerked up as Jimmy woke, relief evident in his face. Without answering, he just jumped up and brought over what they'd had left over from the rabbits they'd roasted before going to chop wood. Victor devoured the remains in a matter of seconds. He was still hungry, but the edge was off now at least.

It wasn't until Victor finished eating and had taken the offered mug of water that Jimmy finally spoke.

"Well, whatever else that healin' stuff does, it doesn't seem to deaden pain none."

That got a chuckle out of Victor. Jimmy was even starting to sound more like him. He sort of liked that. Like it strengthened their bond some how.

"No, it sure don't, does it? Well, mebbe that's t' remind us t' be more careful. Now that I know what they smell like, I'll be checkin' fer rattlers 'fore I reach down t' pull out a log."

Using his left hand to manipulate it, Victor looked over the areas Jimmy had cut away which were just beginning to heal over as Jimmy continued talking.

"About scared me out of my skin when I heard you yell. You didn't even yell like that when that bear tore you up. Healin' didn't seem to come as easy either."

Victor wasn't sure why it had been different with the bear, but then he didn't know anything about adrenaline. Giving a shrug, he thought it through out loud.

"Well, with th' bear, I had a mad on. I really didn't feel much o' anythin' until I woke up after it was all over. With th' rattler, I wasn't expectin' anythin'. By th' time I even knew he was there, I was bit. Guess I yelled as much from bein' startled as from bein' hurt. Though it did hurt like a sonnuva bitch."

Jimmy just snickered some at that. He was still getting used to some of the language Victor came out with. Victor just gave him a smirk back. The food was helping now with getting over the weakness.

"Any way, I guess that th' real difference was th' poison. That needed more'n healin' over. Had t' get it back outta me."

That reminded Jimmy of the blister-like bubbles of the poison and he told Victor about them. And about the blackened skin he'd cut away.

Victor just listened without comment as he drank more of the water. Then he reached over gave Jimmy a poke in the shoulder.

"I think yer right that that wouldn't have worked fer most folks, but looks like it did alright by me. You kept yer head, thought things over an' did what you thought was best. All on yer own."

The praise both felt good and embarassed Jimmy at the same time.

"You'd have done th' same for me."

"Yeah, I would've. But I've been havin' t' make decisions for myself since I was little."

Victor stopped there. He couldn't really explain what he was trying to say and Jimmy didn't seem to be following what he saying any way. But it all boiled down to that Jimmy was starting to grow up. Think and act for himself. Even if it went against what Victor said. Eyes narrowing, his voice got harsher.

"That reminds me - why th' hell didn't you stay away from that rattler like I told you to? What if he'd bit you too?"

Jimmy's hand went to the back of his neck. The sheepish expression looked a little ridiculous on him.

"I didn't think about it. I guess I just got so mad I went after him before I thought it through."

That got a laugh out of Victor and cleared the air between them.

"So, you got a temper too? Well, guess that's only natural, Jimmy. It's th' family blood. We all got th' devil's own temper. Just proves yer a Logan."


	13. Chapter 13

**Part XIII  
><strong>  
>The worst of the summer heat was behind them when the three people rode up on pinto horses that seemed lightly built compared to the riding and work horses Jimmy was more used to seeing. Victor's immediate reaction was to pull back - Jimmy's was to call out a greeting. The older male of the group proved to be a French trapper, the younger was his teenaged half-breed son by the third member of the party, a Blackfoot woman. Jimmy knew basic French from his tutoring and the trapper knew a little English, so between them, they managed to get communication going.<p>

Basically, the trio were asking to set up their tent in the area between the cabin and the pond. It was time for them to put aside their other work to take time for hunting and fishing. They needed to restock their supplies before winter set in. In exchange, they were willing to trade. The woman spoke quietly while her eyes were looking over the two boys who were very near her own son in age.

Jimmy translated back to Victor that the trapper, Bertrand, said his wife Sinopa would be willing to make some clothing for them - if they had any material for her to work with. Victor grudgingly agreed and the tempo of the area changed for a little while.

To Victor's annoyance, Jimmy began to spend the greater part of his time with Sinopa, who spoke both English and French along with her own native tongue. He learned more of French from her as he sat nearby asking dozens of questions. She proved both patient with what were often foolish question and generous when it came to sharing her knowledge. By demonstration, then quiet correction as he tried things on his own, Sinopa began to fill in the holes with skills he and Victor were lacking - like how to save food for the winter. Eventually, Jimmy even coaxed Victor over so that he could see what she was doing.

Sinopa seemed to have an instinctive grasp on how to handle Victor. She neither shunned him or approached him, but let him be around on his own terms. She never commented on when he came or when he left or demanded his attention. She would simply continued speaking as if he had always been there.

As a result, Victor was around enough to pick up most of what she was showing Jimmy. How to set up a table for drying fruits and berries in the sun. How to make a rack to hang strips of meat to dry into jerky and how to make a small fire for smoking fish. Which parts of the local plants were edible.

Victor actively avoided Bertrand and Henri, which was relatively easy to do. Bertrand was away from sunup to sundown catching the meat that Sinopa would cook part of and dry the rest. One night by their fire, he looked over at the pair he referred to as the _garçons sauvages _(wild boys), who were tending to their mules.

"Those two should be nearer settled lands. This isn't a country for boys off to themselves. I gather from what little they've said that they're orphans?"

She nodded as she moved to refill his bowl with the venison stew she'd made.

"The older one - Cougar - speaks hardly at all. The younger one - Wolf - is more open. You can see it in their eyes that they were forged by different hands."

He gave her a puzzled look that she laughed at, her dark eyes twinkling with mischief.

"And how many sons have you left behind while I have only birthed one?"

She laughed again as the connection clicked for him.

"Yes, yes. Two mothers would explain much. So much the same and so different as well."

He glanced back over as he took back his bowl. Her nicknames for them made sense from the way he knew those animals to behave. Victor did remind him a bit of a mountain cat. More of a solitary type. He could easily picture that one growing up to be one of the mysterious mountain men, living a life apart from the rest of civilization. But the younger one, Jimmy? He was more of a sociable sort. Might do well enough on his own, but that would never be his preference.

"Wise as your name, my Fox. Still, they would be better off elsewhere."

"From Wolf's words, Cougar wanted to, but Wolf had asked to stay until the coming winter passes. You might suggest differently, but I doubt it will change anything. You will, as always, do as you like. But my opinion is that is not a pair you can force without consequence. Laugh at that if you like. That Cougar will prove to have a long memory for what he views as a slight."

Grunting, Bertrand went back to eating, but continued to mutter as he did.

"Too young to be out on their own, too big to pick up and put where they should be. _Mon Dieu _- what a world."


	14. Chapter 14

**Part XIV**

Sinopa and Bertrand's son, Henri, was not much of a presence around the boys. Even though he was actually a little younger than Victor, he considered himself a man and acted according to how he supposed a man should act. That was fine with Victor. The less he had to do with the other two males, the better.

As for the woman, she was tolerated and even grudgingly admired, though with a suspicious wariness. John Howlette had shielded Jimmy from a lot of the basic truths in life, so his complete acceptance of her - and even of the other males - was understandable. Naïve, but understandable. Victor had no such illusions. She was teaching them things. Valuable things. He didn't know what the payment asked would be, but he had no doubt that there would be one.

It was the last week of the families stay when what Victor viewed as the bill came. It wasn't easy, but Bertrand managed to get Victor to himself and began to speak to him.

"In two days, we will be leaving. Not to your sorrow, yes I know that. Still, I have had far worse neighbors."

The man's grin matched the light tone of his voice, but Victor was on guard. The man had never tried to single him out for a talk before. There had to be a reason why he would start now. And he was right.

"_Non _– you will not miss us, but your _j'ai un petit frère_? He will not feel the same, eh? Now you, I _comprends un peu_.

Cities, towns, people – fah. Them I do not need for _contentement_. Your Jimmy is not the same though. He enjoys the _commune_. Let him come with us."

Those five words made Victor feel like one of the mules had caught him with a hoof to the gut. They wanted his brother. Had the man said that in terms of a demand instead of a request, he'd have already been dead. As it was, Victor was restraining himself. Because part of what the man said rang true. Jimmy did miss being around other folks. If he didn't, Jimmy wouldn't be spending more time with Sinopa than with him. Without even realizing he was doing it, he began flexing his hands as he thought.

Bertrand was wary himself as he watched the silent emotions run through the boy. Mentally, he made note that he would have to apologize to his _femme _for laughing at her. She was right that this one ran deeper and would hold a grudge longer. For several long moments, he wasn't sure whether the boy would strike at him or not. Odd - surely the boy's nails had not been so long before?

Victor wasn't all that sure himself, but he finally spoke, claws retracting as he did.

"Ask him. Won't tell him t' go, but won't tell him not t' go either."

That said, the boy turned and left. At which time Bertrand released the breath he'd been holding.

When the time came for lunch, Bertrand went to Jimmy. Victor was still gone, but as much time as Victor spent hunting, that wasn't unusual. Jimmy just looked up as Bertrand spoke.

"We will be leaving soon. From here, we will go to town and trade for what we could not make or find for ourselves. Will you accompamy us? If you like the town? _Bon_ – you can stay there. Plenty of things a young man can do who has a good mind and a strong back. If it does not suit, you will be welcome to continue on with us. What do you say, _garçon_?"

The reaction was a surprised, but pleased smile.

"You mean that? That would be great."

The immediate positive reaction rather took Bertrand a bit off-guard. He'd thought he'd have wanted to speak of it with the elder boy about it. But he recovered quickly and clapped Jimmy on the shoulder.

"_Bon_. Decide what you will take with you, but pack light. I will tell Sinopa we will have company on our journey."

When he came over to Sinopa with the news, he was a bit puzzled about her reaction. After all, had she not been the first to bring up the idea? Then her question to him sank home.

"Bertrand? Does the Wolf know you did not mean the two of them together, but him alone?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Part XV**

Victor came back to the cabin and found Jimmy looking over their meager possessions. He saw one of the oldest blanket laid out and a few items already laid out. He kept his voice low and steady.

"Packin' fer th' trip?"

Jimmy didn't jump, just looked over his shoulder. His hearing was as good as Victor's after all, and he knew the sound of his brother. He did puzzle a bit as to why his heartbeat was a little fast, but figured Victor had just finished a run.

"Yep! What all should I put in here?"

Moving closer to the cot, he shrugged.

"Take everything that comes close t' fittin' you. Take th' dried foods. Take stuff t' eat with. Not like you can't let one o' th' mules do th' carryin'."

More than that wouldn't come out. He wouldn't let it. Victor just moved back to the door and looked out.

"You keep on doin' what yer doin'. I'll get us some supper fixed."

The evening passed the same as most of their evenings had. So did the next day. The one difference in the cabin was the bundle at the foot of Jimmy's cot when they went to bed.

Victor didn't stay in his cot long. Once he was sure Jimmy was sleeping soundly, he sat up and watched him for a few minutes before getting up quietly and standing by the side of Jimmy's cot. Then he laid his old jack-knife on top of Jimmy's bundle and left.

When Sinopa came by the cabin just before dawn, she found Jimmy looking for Victor.

"I don't know where he's got off to... he knows we're supposed to be leaving this morning."

This was the reason Sinopa had come by herself. She had feared this - or something like it.

"The Cougar didn't tell you, little Wolf... not the two of you. Just you. Some are not good at farewells. He may have left to avoid that."

That caused Jimmy to wheel around to face her.

"He's not coming with us?"

Sinopa looked at his stricken face. Men. Well, if none of the rest would tell the boy how things were, she would.

"Bertrand didn't ask him to come. He asked him to let you come. I was not there, but Bertram told me your brother said he would not tell you to go, but would not tell you to stay either. He believes you have made your choice and he is keeping to what he promised."

"He thinks I chose leaving over him... I've got to find him!"

A voice from behind spoke.

"Your _frère ainé _has tried to make this easier for you. Why complicate it?" Bertrand paused to give Sinopa a scowl. "And you, you wished the young one to come with us. Why tell him that?"

"Because I do not want him with us through a lie. If he doesn't want to come when he knows it all, then he doesn't want to come."

The whole situation was obviously irritating to the trapper and Bertrand raised his hand as if to deliver a back-handed blow to Sinopa. The move was arrested almost immediately as Jimmy was suddenly between the two. And the previously unseen claws were both out and threatening.

"_Ah! Mon bon Dieu! Dymoniaque!"_

Bertrand lapsed fully into French as he backpedaled out of the cabin. Jimmy was still breathing hard when a gentle hand came to a rest on his shoulder.

"My Wolf has claws, I see. How you are... is that one reason you two live by yourselves?"

The claws drew back in as he turned to face her and looked into her eyes. For the only time other than Victor, he saw acceptance. She wasn't afraid of him or those claws.

It was that look that opened the floodgates. Jimmy poured out everything. The shooting of the man he'd believed to be his father. His own accidental killing of his and Victor's actual father. Even about the two who had previously lived in the cabin. How they'd shot Victor and Victor's retaliation. He even confessed his confusion about killing.

The story was long, but Sinopa took it all in. Some of it shocked her, some of it surprised her, but none of it repulsed her. They were just children. And the world was a cruel place.

"Wolf... you and Cougar will always feel differently about death, I think. When you first killed a man, you did not truly know what you were doing. Your claws were new and in your pain from your father's death... you killed. And you regretted the act even before the man was dead. Cougar? When he killed, he meant to kill. I am not saying that he did not have good reason. The men were apparently willing enough to hurt him when it was two of them against him. But when he struck, he intended death and did not regret it."

"Now? We will go find your brother. Then you can decide what your path should be."


	16. Chapter 16

**Part XVI**

As Jimmy quickly found out, tracking animals to hunt was one thing. Tracking Victor when he apparently didn't care to be found was another. There was nothing, nothing at all visual or audible to track, so he had to rely solely on scent. Which he wasn't all that good at yet. Not to mention, being fully aware of Jimmy's limits, Victor had taken advantage of them, doubling back on his own trail and taking to the trees.

Sinopa did not consider herself to be a particularly superstitious woman, but watching the young boy sniffing to track as a wolf would do? Well, it brought fully to mind the tales of those who were the embodiment of the animal spirits. Hearing a tale, it was easy enough to just say the storyteller had vivid imagination. Seeing it happening in front of her? That was not so easily dismissed. Especially after seeing those claws as well.

As they moved through the woods, she began to softly start telling him some of those stories to ease him a bit. Being frantic wouldn't help his search in the least. Even so, it took her more than an hour to convince Jimmy to take a few minutes to rest and eat.

Unknown to both, Victor was quite close. All of this searching was puzzling. From his current vantage in the trees, he could see Jimmy and Sinopa, though he couldn't hear them. They should have been on the trail by now. Why weren't they? He moved a bit further away into a larger tree with a good thick branch that he could take a rest on.

Frowning to himself, Victor leaned back against the tree trunk and turned his gaze to the sky. Pulling out a piece of dried fish, he bit off a piece and slowly chewed. Maybe Jimmy had changed his mind at the last minute, but if he had, why would the woman be with him?

Another thought began forming. Had Jimmy been expecting him to be going as well? He never told Jimmy he was going, but maybe Jimmy had just assumed it. And if Bertrand hadn't bothered to tell him anything any different?

Back where Jimmy and Sinopa were resting, Jimmy was puzzling as well. But in his case, he had someone to answer his questions.

"I heard Bertrand call you Fox. Does that mean you're like us?"

Her laugh was soft as she shoke her head.

"No, I have never met any others like you and your brother. My mother named me after the fox because she saw a fox catching a rabbit just before I began to arrive."

"Oh. I wonder..."

Jimmy stopped. He thought he'd caught a scent, but the wind was changing and whatever the smell was, it had come and gone with the momentary breeze. Sinopa drew his attention back.

"What is it that you wonder?"

"Why us? Why are we different?"

"Answering that would require one with more than my poor wisdom. But? The tales I have always heard seem to say the the spirits take form when there is a need for them. The reasons have been to teach lessons, to preserve the people, to punish. Ah - there are as many reasons as there are spirits. If you had asked me last year about them, I likely would have suggested the storytellers had drunk things stronger than water. Today, I have to say that I must believe and that you and your brother came with purpose. Though what that purpose..?"

_"Dymoniaque!"_

The slurred word was spat out and startled them both. Turning their heads in unison, they saw him. Bertrand, his rifle pointed straight at Jimmy. Or as straight as he could hold it. It was very obvious that he had drank quite a bit since leaving them.

"Now _monstre_, we will see if you can die without the bullet _beni_."

Not very far away, Victor was startled as well out of his thoughts by the sound of Henri's voice near the base of the tree he was in. Most of what he was calling out was in French, so Victor didn't know exactly what he was saying. But he could figure out that he was calling for his father and the tone was one of worry. Worry about what might happen to his father or about what his father might do? He didn't know enough of the language to translate any further.

Henri had just started to move on when both he and Victor stopped dead. A rifle shot. With a speed of movement he didn't know he was capable of, Victor came out of the tree. He ran past Henri, leaping using both arms and legs to cover the ground as quickly as possible.


	17. Chapter 17

**Part XVII**

Henri was frozen for a moment. When he'd seen his father swigging deeply from a bottle – well, that was hardly the first time. And the names he was calling the two orphan boys? Hardly the first time he had called them savages, but now he was calling them monsters as well. Still, not exactly a new thing for his father either. Unlike his mother, his father was a highly superstitious man.

But now that Henri had seen how the one his mother called Cougar had run? Now he was not so sure. If his father had fired that gun and Cougar had been here… a sudden vision of how Cougar would react if he found his little brother injured flashed into Henri's mind. And he began to run himself.

At the small clearing he'd last seen Jimmy and Sinopa at, Victor came in on a scene of chaos scented heavily with the mixed reek of cheap whiskey, gunpowder and fresh blood. Most of the blood wasn't Jimmy's though. Yet.

Victor didn't know enough French to understand even a tenth of what Bertrand was saying, but the rifle he'd just finished reloading said enough. Especially when he swung it up to aim at the back of Jimmy's head. And Jimmy was just kneeling there in front of Sinopa - not moving, not even seeming to notice that Bertrand was behind him.

Fast as he could be, Victor knew he couldn't get to the man faster than the man could pull that trigger, so he let out a roar to pull Bertrand's attention from Jimmy. It worked. A little too well. Bertrand turned and his rifle swung around with him. And discharged right into Victor's chest.

That startled Jimmy out of his stunned state. He had been at Sinopa's side trying desperately to think of what he could do to aid the obviously badly wounded woman. She had seen Bertrand's drunken approach with the rifle and had instinctively grabbed Jimmy and shoved him out of the way only to take the gun blast intended for him in her abdomen.

Now he turned his head just in time to see his brother fall as the scent of Victor's blood mixed with Sinopa's - and it was all Bertrand's fault. He was drunk... like Thomas Logan had been. The first thing that flashed through Jimmy's mind was that he had to get that rifle away from the man immediately. Things didn't go as he intended though.

His claws extended as Jimmy leapt for Bertrand's rifle. The intention had been to use his claws to knock the rifle from the drunken man's hands, but Bertrand's reaction to the sight was to shift his hold on his now-empty rifle into use as a club. As he clumsily moved to try and bring the rifle down on the boy's head, Bertrand tripped - landing solidly on top of Jimmy and effectively impaling himself on the extended claws.

It was at this juncture that Henri came onto the grisly scene. Cougar was dead, chest bloody from the rifle blast. His mother looked dead to him as well with her mid-section covered in blood as well. And then, his father, now nothing but dead weight atop the Wolf boy.

Henri didn't stay a second longer. Turning, he ran until he was breathless and then was sick in the bushes. A few minutes later, he caught his breath and spit the bile out of his mouth. Eyes hard and grim, he made his way back to where his family's pack animals were waiting.

At the clearing, it took Jimmy a considerable amount of time to work his way out from underneath the dead man. Pinned as he had been, he'd never seen Henri at the clearing's edge and he was far too distraught to notice the boy's scent. As soon as he was free, he ran over to Victor. He was still - not breathing and the wound wasn't closing. Apparently a bullet in the heart had done what the bear couldn't.

Torn up as he was, he didn't stay with Victor, but returned to Sinopa's side. She had grown paler from blood loss, but was still alive.

"I need to get you to a doctor. I'll go get.."

A trembling hand touching his arm stopped him.

"No, Wolf. I am no doctor, but I know this wound is not one I will live through."

Her face tightened with a spasm of pain, then she managed to draw another breath to speak.

"Your claws. Use them."

It took a few moments for what she meant to dawn on him. When it did, he shrank back.

"No... I can't kill you..."

A small hissing sound from her lips stopped him from speaking. When she spoke again, it was very softly.

"You cannot kill me, Wolf. I am already dead. You cannot bring me back to life, but you can end the pain. Please."

Another spasm of pain made up his mind for him. Feeling rather numb, Jimmy made a fist and pressed it against her chest. Her hand moved to touch his wrist as he released the claws. Now the only one left alive in the clearing, Jimmy's cries over his brother and Sinopa sounded more like howls echoing through the forest.


	18. Chapter 18

_**My apologies for the delay between chapters. My internet provider has been having problems and just recently resolved them.**_

* * *

><p><strong>Part XVIII<strong>

Grief is a tiring thing and eventually, Jimmy sagged down to the ground. He didn't know what to do next. He didn't want to leave Victor and Sinopa to be torn apart by the scavengers, but there really wasn't much chance of him being able to get far with them. Burying? He might be able to manage that, but he'd need to go back to the cabin for a shovel.

Looking from Victor to Sinopa, Jimmy debated, then took a few minutes to drag Victor's body over next to Sinopa's and covered them as best he could with what was available. He left Bertrand's body where it was. He really didn't care what happened to it.

Taking one last look, Jimmy set off at a run to head back for the shovel. He was about halfway there when he heard one of the mules make a noise he'd never heard it make before. A second later, he smelled the smoke and ran even faster.

The cabin was engulfed in flames. One of the mules had already broken free of his stall and fled - it was the other one that was still trapped that was making the sounds that he could only describe as screaming. The sound of his voice calmed the animal. A little. Freeing him from the stall and heading with him away from the smoke and fire calmed him a lot more.

Standing there with the mule, Jimmy just watched as the roof caved in on what had been their home. He didn't dare try to go back until the fire died away because the mule was still so jumpy that he couldn't be left alone. The fire didn't make the jump over toward the stall. He supposed he should be grateful for that, but he was having a hard time feeling grateful for anything.

It seemed to take forever, but the movement of the sun showed that the passage of time hadn't been all that much when the fire started to go out on its own. There wasn't much left of the cabin from about his height up and the bottom logs were charred, still glowing in spots with embers. The floor was the same way. He didn't dare go inside because the floor might be damaged enough that he could fall into the cellar and be trapped with no one around to help. The only other living person around was Henri. Didn't take a whole lot of thinking to know that he had to have been the one to set the fire. Couldn't have been an accident - there hadn't been a fire built inside the cabin since spring started and they didn't have candles either.

The smell of smoke was starting to make him feel nauseous, so he moved on to the stable. His bundle was there where he'd left it to go with Sinopa to search for Victor. He shouldn't have gone. If he hadn't, Victor and Sinopa would both be alive now. That reminded him of what he had come for and he got the shovel out of the stable. After a few minutes of thought, he bundled what grain was left and loaded it onto the mule along with his own things. They wouldn't be coming back here. What was the point?

Leading the mule back to where he'd left the bodies, Jimmy quickly found out that digging a grave was not an easy thing to do, especially on hard ground well laced with rock and roots. He ran into even more and larger rocks at close to a foot and it was going to be dark soon. Much as he disliked the thought, he had to leave it there. He took a moment to catch his breath, then drug Sinopa and Victor's bodies to the shallow grave before covering them with what little soil he'd been able to move. Then he piled rocks over the top of that to help discourage the scavengers.

By the time Jimmy was satisfied he'd done all he'd be able to, the moon was rising. Going back to the mule, he took back up the lead rope and started walking east. He didn't know where he was going or what he would do when he got there. All he knew was that there was nothing here for him now.


	19. Chapter 19

**Part XIX**

It was the fifth day since Henri had set the fire to try and cleanse the area from the _loup garou_ – or whatever name those two beasts should be called. His mother had always had a sense about things of nature. No wonder she used animal names for them instead of the names they had been given.

Hesitating, he looked into the darkness that was under the thick forest canopy even in mid-day. His mother, though some of her beliefs seemed odd, was not what he would have termed a superstitious woman. Numbers were just numbers. Cats of any color were just cats. She believed in spirits, but not ghosts. For his own part, Henri didn't understand the difference between spirits and ghosts. That was something that she had never been able to explain in a way he could comprehend.

Bertrand? His father had been another matter. A cat crossed his path and he would change his direction. If fishing was good, he would stop at twelve fish even if they were smoking fish for winter. Oh, any number of things had to be avoided or procedures followed to prevent bad luck.

He was a product of them both. And neither part cared overmuch for going back to where the dead had been left five days ago. But if he was going to make his own way, he needed to go back for his father's gun. And he couldn't wait much longer. He wanted out of this area. Out of it for good.

A little whiskey remained in one of his father's old bottles and he doused a bandana with it before tying it over his lower face. The whiskey scent made his nose burn and his eyes water some, but Henri figured that would be preferable to the stench of death that would be over the area. He'd come across rotting animals more than once. He doubted a rotting person would be an improvement. Day wasn't going to get longer and he sure didn't want to be there when the sun started setting, so with one more glance around, he stepped into the woods.

It took him a lot longer to refind the spot than he'd expected it would. Henri had that fact to face - he wasn't the tracker his father was nor had the wood skills of his mother. He'd just followed them rather than take notice of how they figured out where to go. Figured there'd still be plenty of years to learn those tricks. His mother had chided him about his lack of attention a few times. Now he was paying the price.

There were no doubts once he finally did find the spot though. The stench was bad, but not as bad as he'd been afraid it would be. Scavengers had taken off a good portion already. And then he spotted the small mound topped with rocks. Shovel was left beside it. Wolf must've done it. He couldn't imagine that anyone else wandering by would have bothered burying a body they'd come across.

Shaking his head, he ignored the mound and went to searching for the rifle. The general disturbances in the area had caused it to become partially covered by debris. That plus the dim light made locating it tricky, but finally a stray glint of light off the metal caught his eye. Pulling it free, he dusted it off a bit and looked it over. A bit worse for wear and definitely in need of a good cleaning and oil. Fortunately, the weather had been dry. Dew was bad enough.

Henri had started a search for his father's pouch when a noise behind him sent a chill down his spine. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that one of the rocks on top of the burial mound had slid off. Odd. They had all seemed fairly solidly placed. Still, only a rock. He turned back to his search.

The next noise was not so easily ignored and Henri had a harder time making himself look. Two more rocks had slid from the mound and more seemed ready to go. His breath caught in his throat. The mound was moving.

Trying to be sensible, Henri scolded himself. Likely a small scavenger had worked its way into the mound and it was what was causing the disturbance. That must be it. He moved closer to prove it to himself. And that was when he saw the hand erupt from the mound.

Once his father had asked him what he would do if he ever saw a ghost. It had been after a night of stories that had pretty much guaranteed he wouldn't sleep at all that night. Henri had said he'd run and his father had just laughed. _"The dead, they go quickly, boy. Better to face them than feel their breath on your back."_

Running didn't seem to be an option any way. Henri felt frozen, glued to the spot and barely even breathing as he watched as Cougar slowly emerged from the mound. Lying next to a body that had been decomposing for five days meant Cougar was covered in substances best left unimagined and they caused the dirt and bits of rock to cling to him as well as releasing a reek into the air that made Henri gag even with the whiskey soaked cloth still over his nose and mouth.

It certainly didn't help his feelings of nausea and revulsion when his noise caused Cougar to turn toward him. One look at the dark, animalistic eyes fixed in his direction made him a believer that the dead could truly rise and walk again. The eyes were flat - without emotion or recognition. Henri didn't make the movement consciously, but he brought the rifle around to aim it at Cougar even though it was still unloaded.

Victor really was not aware yet – his body and his instincts for self-preservation were what had him in motion in lieu of any actual thinking decisions. The scent of putrefaction covered up almost all other scents for him save one. The whiskey. That scent mixed with the sight of the rifle triggered an instinctive reaction.

And not the reaction it would have been last fall. Then, even half-asleep, Victor would have hidden. Found a dark spot to stay until his Pa had sobered up enough to remember that if he killed the boy, there wouldn't be anyone else to do the shit jobs that he hated more than he hated the boy. Now? Now he had changed inside. He was no longer the little pup staying out of the way of the rabid alpha male. He might not be an alpha himself yet, but he was ready to start challenging alphas. And his instincts whispered that this male with the rifle was no alpha.

The attack was like a blur to Henri. This wasn't happening to him, it was happening to someone else. Someone else whose rifle went flying into the brush. Someone else whose blood was spraying out and covering the _loup garou. _Henri died with the second slashing, still never fully registering what was happening to him.

A few seconds later, Victor stood over the steaming remains, panting. Water. That was what he needed. Leaving the area, he moved toward where his ears told him a stream was. All the animals in the area gave him a wide berth. Very wide.

Reaching the water, he rinsed his mouth first to clear the dust and dirt from it, then gulped the cold water as slowly, very slowly, life began to return to his eyes. As he fully awakened, the stench coming off of him started to register. Disgusted, he began to use the water to clean himself. Fresh blood, dirt and decay clung in clots to his skin, hair and clothes. Not a pleasant combination to say the least and he didn't have any soap to help cut through the mess. Then the fog in his brain lifted a little more and he remembered a plant Sinopa had shown them. Leaving the stream, he was able to locate one of them and dig up the root. Woman had been right – it helped a lot, though he gave up on trying to save anything of his clothing. Well, he'd get something back at the cabin to put on.

What the hell all had happened? Sinopa... she must be dead. He felt a slight twist in his guts at that thought, but he wasn't sure why. Still, she'd been nice to him. Put her at the top of a real short list. Bertrand. Bertrand had been about to shot Jimmy point-blank... wait. Where **was** Jimmy?


	20. Chapter 20

**Part XX**

Realizing he didn't know where Jimmy was sent Victor running back to where the bodies were, water still dripping from his hair. Now that his nose was clear, the stench was horrible.

Henri's dead body threw him a bit. It was fresh. Not even gone cold yet. He looked over the wounds, then remembered the blood he'd washed off himself. He had to have killed Henri, but he sure didn't know why. Shaking his head with annoyance, he put that down as something that just flat didn't matter. But at the same time, it did.

Running a hand through his wet hair, Victor tried to piece together what had happened. Bertrand's body had been gnawed and strewn by scavengers. Sinopa was stinking. Neither of those things had happened in just a couple of hours. There were only two that could have told him how much time had passed – one of them was a much fresher corpse and the other was missing.

Nothing fit. Unless maybe Henri had scared off Jimmy somehow? The pain in his stomach made him decide it was time to quit worrying about it for the moment. It had been long enough that he needed food bad. He still kept looking for traces of Jimmy on his way back to the cabin. At least he did until a new stench reached his nose and he broke into a run. Burnt smell of something more than a campfire.

He stopped dead at the sight, and then approached it slowly. Almost unwillingly. Empty whiskey bottles left where they'd been dropped. Jimmy's scent. Henri's scent. Mules. It was all so jumbled with the cloying smell of the fire's aftermath that he couldn't sort it out. No rain recently meant he didn't even have tracks to follow.

Nothing. He had absolutely nothing but himself now. His brother was gone. The mules were gone. The food was gone. No clothes, not even a blanket left. He was worse off now than when he and Jimmy had run off. The part of him that was still a boy felt like crying, but he held that back the way he always had. His Pa had always beat him worse if he showed any weakness. But weak was what he was feeling. Victor was having trouble keeping his focus, trouble even keeping upright.

Victor didn't know how much time had passed, but five days without food was having a strong negative effect. Added to that, his body had been feeding off of itself those five days to restore him. The adrenaline rush had kept him going, but it was fading rapidly now. Exhausted and starving, he wanted to curl up somewhere and sleep. But a similar nagging feeling to the one that warned him of the flood warned him that if he stopped moving before he found food, he might not have the strength to get up again. Trouble was, he was already pretty sure he didn't have the strength to hunt.

A faint noise caught his attention. A horse... of course, they'd all been riding horses when they'd come. Sinopa had certainly preserved plenty of food. If he could find the horses, he would likely find those supplies. Wasn't as if Sinopa would have use for them anymore.

The trip to find them wasn't easy. Victor had to stop frequently to catch his breath and stumbled more than once, but he just gritted his teeth and plodded on. Fortunately for him, the horses were tied. They tried to shy away from what their senses told them was a very hungry predator. Not an unreasonable fear as he was already wondering if he could take down one of them if he couldn't find the other food.

His nose led him to the saddlebags on the middle horse. It was frustrating because his fingers felt clumsy, but he finally managed to get one open and reached if to pull out one of the wrapped packets of meat. He jerked free the canteen as well before moving out of hoof range and dropping to the ground.

The packet was deer jerky. He almost wanted to swallow it whole, but knew that wouldn't do him much good. Victor forced himself to chew the strips to bits and washed them down with long drinks from the canteen. Over half of the packet was gone before tiredness washed over him. He didn't even bother to find a place under shelter; he just recapped the canteen and curled up where he was.

By the time the horses woke him up, darkness had settled. The trio of animals was getting anxious. Other predators were on the prowl now and they would be fairly easy prey. Victor was still far from steady as he got up, but nowhere near as bad as he had been. He hadn't taken a close look at it, but stable had looked pretty much intact. He'd take the horses there for the night and then figure out what to do next in the morning.

He wasn't used to riding and wasn't going to start in his current condition, so Victor untied the animals and slowly lead them back. They turned out to be a handful, shying at shadows and noise to the point that he almost said 'to hell with it'. But he resisted the urge to gut the contrary beasts even though the moon was high overhead and he was exhausted again before he finally reached the stable with them,

Fortunately for all of them, the horses calmed down considerably once they were inside walls and felt more protected. Victor was craving fresh meat badly, but killing one of the horses where the other two might see or smell it seemed a bad idea. Instead, he just pulled out more jerky and chewed on it sullenly while starting to search through the packs. Henri had apparently abandoned most of his mother and father's things somewhere. Henri's clothing would have fit Jimmy a bit loosely, but Victor? Not at all. He could jury-rig a loincloth, but not much else. At least there were blankets. He tugged two of them out to make himself a pallet near the stable door.

He growled to himself as he laid down, but forced himself to stop when he noticed it was making the horses edgy. If Jimmy hadn't left him next to that dead body, he'd still have his own clothes. Why the hell had he done that?

Victor didn't have much time to think that over. His body was demanding sleep again, so he settled down. Tomorrow. Tomorrow he'd start tracking where Jimmy went to.

It was hard to say how long he'd slept when the sound of the restless horses combined with the sound of rain woke him. When he looked outside, he shivered. The rain coming down was cold and from the way the temperature had dropped, it was going to get colder. At least the body heat from the horses was keeping the stable decently warm, but they'd need to eat themselves. A quick glance showed that Jimmy had taken most of the grain with him. Keeping three wasn't going to be practical.

He'd leave that worry for the time being though. Grabbing a bucket, he began dipping water from the rain barrel and carrying it in to the animals. While they were drinking, he mucked out their stalls as best as he could, then gave them some of the grain before going back to his pallet. The chores had worn him out. He didn't figure he was in any danger of dying, but he was a far sight from being in full health. So he obeyed what his body told him it needed. He chewed through some more jerky, took a long drink, then laid back down and slept as ice began mixing with that cold late September rain.


	21. Chapter 21

**Part XXI**

It was on the fourth day after he'd left that Jimmy's nose picked up a scent that he started to follow. Wood smoke. He'd been starting to worry that winter would come before he found his way to where other people were. The days were still warm, but it seemed like every night was chillier than the one before.

Jimmy slowed as he got closer and could hear the sounds. This was more than one or two men camping. He couldn't remember hearing and scenting so many people at one time. Some of the talk stopped and men turned from what they were doing to look over the boy as he came into view, leading his mule.

What he had stumbled across was a prospectors camp - a rough group of around a dozen or so men who had gotten together to make a rough base camp. During the days when weather permitted, they went out looking for the elusive metals that might make their fortunes. Other times, they were here together, affording each other a bit more security than a man on his own could expect.

None of the men spoke to him, but Jimmy suddenly heard a voice that didn't belong to a man.

"Land sakes - must you all stare like a pack of half-wits?"

When he looked for the source of the voice, Jimmy saw what was easily the largest woman he'd ever seen in his life. In every sense of the word. She was just three inches shy of six feet, with braided blonde hair and a zaftig figure that would have brought a Valkyrie to mind if he'd known of such things. Her personality matched the rest of her - bigger than that of the other women he'd known in his short life.

One of the men called over to her.

"Well, tain't every day a youngun comes creepin' up outta nowhere, Katie. Man's got a right to stare."

The woman just made an impatient noise as she walked briskly over. Moving over to stand by Jimmy, she looked down on him with narrowed eyes for a minute or two, then her face suddenly lit up in a smile.

"You appear to be a young man with a lot of story behind him, but that can wait. You don't look like you've had a square meal in a good awhile. Tie your mule up to that rail over there and I'll get you a plate ready."

As soon as she'd said that, the men all went back to what they'd been doing, with the exception now that some of them gave a short greeting to Jimmy. If Katie accepted him, they accepted him. It was as simple as that.

Katie took a moment to repin one of her braids that had come a bit loose, then pointed Jimmy to small tub of water while keeping up a fairly steady stream of chatter.

"Take a second to rinse a little of the trail off of your hands and face. Food tastes better when you mix less dirt in. That's better - have a seat here on this box. We don't have much in the way of fancy furniture here - or fancy anything for that matter. Here you go - good bowl of stew and some bread will do you good. Now, I see a boy and I see a mule, but I don't see much for tools, so I reckon you aren't a propsector like these old goats. What brings you to these parts?"

He took a spoonful of the stew. After days of jerky, it was all he could not not to wolf it down. He'd never had anything quite like it and he found it delicious. But he swallowed and tried to think of how to answer her. After running it through his head, he decided to go with the story that Victor had used - with a small adjustment. It kept enough truth to make it easy to remember - and left out the truths too hard to explain.

"My brother an' I got seperated from our folks when the spring flood hit the river we were crossing. He and I managed to scramble up onto a ridge, but where we had been staying was under water in seconds. I didn't know water could make sounds like that - or plow over full-grown trees like they were nothing. So, it was just me and him then."

Pausing again, he took a sip from the tin cup of water that Katie offered him.

"We didn't know what else to do, so we started heading East as best as we could. We met an Indian woman traveling with a trapper that took a liking to us and she showed us some plants we could eat and traded for some jerky. Then one day while we were looking for food, I came face to face with a bear. My brother attacked the bear to get his attention off of me ... and ... well... the bear didn't leave much of him."

Sitting the bowl down. Thinking of losing Victor made him lose his appetite and even if that wasn't when Victor had died, he **was** dead. Taking another swallow of water, he made the rest of the story brief.

"I covered over his remains as best I could and just started walking again. Been just eating the jerky that was left and berries I found along the way. I don't know how long it's been now since then."

Katie just clucked sympathetically and urged him to pick his bowl back up.

"Well, you may want to go further east than this, but this is as far east as you'll make it before spring, boy. You'll stay here with us."

There was only a second of pause as she turned her head and glared at someone who had made what she considered to be a disparaging noise.

"Anyone can feel free to disagree with me, of course. I'm sure that anyone that does can manage to cook for themselves."

There was a throat or two cleared after that, but not a word of objection to the camp gaining a new resident.. Katie nodded to herself in satisfaction and turned back to him.

"Well now, that's settled. I can't go calling you boy all winter though. What should we be calling you?"

He was quiet for a minute more as he thought back on that rattlesnake and what Victor had said about the family blood. He was all that was left of that family now. He picked his bowl back up, then looked up at Katie.

"Logan. You can call me Logan."


	22. Chapter 22

**Part XXII**

The prospector camp woke to snow-covered ground the next day. As Jimmy hauled wood for Katie while she prepared porridge for everyone, it was now fully accepted that the boy would stay. Even the hardest hearted of that group wouldn't send a boy off on his own after the first snowfall. Especially now that they had all gotten a closer look and realized he was even younger than they'd originally thought.

They soon had more reasons to be pleased with the Logan boy being part of the camp. Good fresh fish, rabbit and other small game soon began becoming part of their diet where before what meat they had was generally salt pork. There had been the occasional deer, but that was rare. These men were prospectors, not hunters. Logan gave credit for all he knew about hunting and fishing to his deceased elder brother. Shame the boy's brother had died because he must've been a natural born hunter to have passed on so much to the boy.

Anything he caught, Katie could cook. As Katie noted to Logan over her stove one afternoon about a month later, a camp of well-fed men was a whole lot easier to deal with. The eldest of the prospectors, the one with the odd nickname of Wolver Tom, laughed when he overheard that.

"Our Katie there has a point, young Logan. I've been in many a camp where the men were constantly at each other's throats and generally one or two fights would end up with a man injured or dead. And I'd say Katie's right. Tempers wouldn't have been so raw and short if they'd had more food and less whiskey in their bellies. You're too young yet for the strong stuff, but take it from old Wolver Tom, that stuff is alright on a full belly, but it'll eat your guts if you drink on an empty one."

Wolver Tom noticed Katie's pursed lips and laughed.

"I do believe Katie doesn't approve of a nip."

In answer to that, Katie shook her head as she reached for a ladle to start serving the food.

"I don't believe a nip ever did anyone any harm, man or woman. My father always put a touch in his coffee in winter to help stave off the chills. But he could stop at a nip. Most men are with grain whiskey like a horse is with grain. They keep at it until it makes them ill and some don't even stop then."

She handed the first bowl over to Wolver Tom, then the second to Logan.

"Some men drink to forget, Katie dear."

That remark had her giving her ladle a shake in Wolver Tom's direction.

"Man that needs to drink like that to forget needs to do less drinking as well as fewer things he regrets."

Giving a wink to Logan, Wolver Tom conceded the argument.

"Lesson to be gained here, young Logan. Never argue with a woman once you figure she's got the right of it. Especially if she can cook well enough to tempt the devil himself."

Since Wolver Tom seemed in both a good mood and talkative, Logan finally asked the question that he'd been wanting to since he first heard the man's name.

"What's a Wolver?"

That got a laugh from both of them. Wolver Tom took off his grey fur cap and dusted it off with a shake.

"Wolver – that's what some call a man that hunts wolves. Cap here is from the first one I took down. Mind you, I didn't go after the she-wolves or their cubs. I only hunted the grown males and even then, I only went for the nuisance ones. I ain't one that cottons to the notion that critters should be wiped out just for being critters. Besides, I feel a sort of kinship with wolves. Not that I'd care to meet a hungry pack without a gun, mind you."

He plopped his hat back onto his head, then made a circling gesture with the hand holding his bowl.

"Some folks want to chop down all these trees, kill off all the wild things, tame all the rivers. Hell's bells – they probably want to flatten the mountains as well. Want to re-make this land to be like the East. Loons. They want to be in the East, they should stay in the East. Am I right, Katie?"

"You've got the right of it there. Folks like us, we've been drawn here because something about these wilds calls to us. Some others they only want to be here long enough to get money so they can live high on the hog back East. Others can't bear to see things unchanged and seems like they have to muss with things that were fine as they were. And it seems like most of them become politicians."

The rest of the camp was coming in for their meals now, so Logan just finished up his bowl, rinsed it out and then headed off to do some fishing. Dark was coming earlier and earlier every day, it seemed. Being out after dark didn't particularly bother him, not anymore. But it would worry Katie and he didn't care to do anything to get her upset.

The snow wasn't too thick on the ground right then, but by the time he'd caught enough fish to make a good meal for everyone, the wind had a hard, cold edge and clouds in the distance were thick and black. And moving pretty quickly. He didn't waste time hauling his catch back to the camp.

The camp was a hive of activity and they were all relieved to see Logan returning. Short Eddie hollered over at him.

"Those are blizzard clouds, boy. Lay the fish down in the tub and lend a hand. They won't spoil in this cold."

It was a close thing, but the group managed to get everything secured before the winds hit with a fury that rattled everything in the camp. The temperature dropped like a rock until it seemed the fire was hardly giving off any heat at all. But they were all in out of the wind with their thick winter coats and plenty of blankets to huddle in. Plus Katie had made sure to ready all of her pots around the fire so that hot broths could be ladled out to keep them fed until the storm broke.

All in all, they were in a good position to weather the storm in relative comfort. The same could not be said of a certain stable to the West.


	23. Chapter 23

**Part XXIII**

The cold was cruel. The stable was built fairly well, but there was no place to build a fire, at least not without the extreme likelihood of burning the stable down. The horses gave off body heat, but that only went so far and he couldn't sleep close to them. They'd already shown they'd as soon stomp him as not. And there was no stopping the cold that crept in under the door, especially when the wind was rattling the whole stable.

Going outside was a painful experience without shoes. And even though Victor's body would heal him from the chilblains and frost bite, his body demanded food for that healing. And lots of it. He had never recovered the weight he'd lost when Jimmy left and now he was getting to look downright skeletal. The jerky just wasn't enough, but hunting out in the cold without any protective clothing just made him need even more food.

Food that he couldn't find. He didn't have the long retractable claws like Jimmy, so fishing was a lot dodgier prospect for him. And the edges of the pond were iced now. Not thick enough to bear his weight, but thick enough to keep him from the fish and the process of breaking a hole through scared all the fish away from the area. Rabbits and other animals all seemed to have disappeared deep into burrows or the deep woods.

It was nearly a month when the sensation that his body was eating on itself finally made him take the next step. He put a lead rope on the horse that had been Bertrand's and led it away from the stable one afternoon. The horse balked and it took him more energy than he cared to be using to get the animal far enough away. Then the problems only got worse. The horse was both better fed and stronger than Victor. In the end, his claws won, but the horse's fight left him exhausted with cracked ribs. It made moving to butcher the animal difficult, but he forced himself to work as quickly as he could. He wasn't the only flesh-eater going hungry and if he was going to keep any of this meat at all, he was going to have to get it somewhere safer. If, no - when, other predators came, he wasn't strong enough to fight them. He'd just be another chunk of meat for their bellies.

Shivering as he worked, Victor thought of Jimmy fairly often. He'd come to accept that Jimmy must have thought he was dead for some reason. He couldn't imagine that Jimmy would have willingly gone off on his own if he'd had a choice. It bothered him that Jimmy might be out somewhere in this cold without shelter or someone to watch his back. He was older and he was sorely missing that himself.

_Well, least Jimmy has his clothes._

Victor didn't break the silence by even talking to himself. He was on alert, waiting for the evitable arrival of others to steal his kill. The cracked ribs were hindering his climbing to secure some of the meat in branches high enough off the ground to deter the wolves. He lose some of it to the predators that could climb, but that couldn't be helped.

He hadn't secured even half the meat when his senses told him he was about to get company. Growling with frustration, he took one last chunk of meat and abandoned the rest of the carcass. Climbing up to a place of relative safety, he shivered as he ate, watching as smaller scavengers moved in only to have to give way to larger ones.

A shift in the wind drew his attention and he frowned as he saw quick moving clouds coming in. Victor made a quick decision and risked that the other animals would stay with the carcass. Dropping down one of the large pieces of meat that he'd drug up into the tree earlier, he scrambled down, grabbed it up and headed back for the stable.

As hoped, the animals didn't come after him. Unfortunately, it was more due to the changing weather. Victor had just made it back to the stable when the winds hit and practically knocked the breath out of him.

The sudden swirl of pure white around him confused his sense of direction, but all he needed to do was reach out and feel for the stable. He fumbled a bit before he could manage to pry the door open, but he finally made it in.

He hadn't intended to bring the meat inside the stable, but there was nothing else to do with it now. The storm was growing worse by the minute and he was already having trouble getting the door to close solidly behind him.

The remaining two horses were upset, but whether it was the smell of blood, the smell of their former companion or the storm was hard to say. As he sank down, shivering and exhausted, Victor figured it was probably a bit of all of it. Breathing deeply was causing spikes of pain now – all the activity hadn't helped his cracked ribs in the least. Ignoring the stamping and whinnying horses, he made himself a nest in one of the piles of dried grasses and cocooned himself in the blankets.

He barely budged from there the whole of the October blizzard. He'd come out once a day, make sure the horses had something to eat and eat some himself before crawling back in again. The horses had to make do with what water was already there – going outside to get more wasn't an option so far as Victor was concerned. His body was demanding food and sleep – and was not taking no for an answer.

By the time the skies cleared, he could at least take a good deep breath again. The meat he'd brought with him was gone now, so though he dreaded plowing through the snow, he first led the horses to the icy stream for their first good drink in days, then went back to see if any of the meat he'd left behind still remained.

As Victor had feared, the high winds had knocked the meat from where he'd tried to secure it. Nothing was left for all the pain he'd gone through to try and save it. He didn't curse or even get particularly upset. Standing there shivering in the cold sunlight, he heard a snarl and turned to face a lynx. Normally a nocturnal hunter, hunger had brought this one out in search of a meal.

Feeling oddly calm, Victor underwent a subtle change that would affect his life for many years to come. Snarling in return, he dropped down as if he were a large cat himself. It would have been difficult for an observer to say which sprang at the other first, but when they collided, there was nothing human in the way Victor fought. He met the wildcat in savagery claw for claw, fang for fang. And when it was over, he was bleeding profusely on the ground, but he was still able to stand. The same couldn't be said of the lynx and seconds later, Victor was feeding. Again, not as he had in the past by butchering the animal and taking off meat to eat. He was eating straight off of the carcass, filling his empty stomach with the still warm meat.

He didn't even look up until he was full, but then he noticed a trio of lean coyotes watching him. Watching, not moving closer and trying to still what was left of his kill. A slow smile formed, one of the few signs that indicated there was still something human underneath. Victor dropped back down then and left, covering ground with surprising ease as he ran using both his arms and legs until he reached the stream. Again, he didn't bother now to scoop the water up in his hands. He lowered his face down to the water and drank.

The icy water made a shiver run through him again, but now that he had eaten, the cold didn't seem to bite as badly. The bleeding had stopped now and the blood remaining on him was half-frozen. Heading back for the stable, he thought briefly about what he done. It felt right. Natural.

Ignoring the horses, he moved back to his blanket in the hay. The wounds he'd received from the lynx were already showing signs of healing, so he curled up to give his body the rest it needed to speed the process. Worry about Jimmy, worry about tomorrow? It all faded from him. Today was what was important. Now. And now, he was full, warm and healing. He would get through this winter, one day at a time.


	24. Chapter 24

**Part XXIV**

If October had been a cruel month, November and December were vicious. Storms lasted for between two to five days at a time, took a short break of a few hours, then started again.

By the time December started, there was only one horse left. Hunting had been poor and the food for the animals was dwindling quickly. Victor had been slowly changing during those days. He was still cold and miserable, but he was no longer freezing. His body no longer developed frostbite or chilblains. By that point in time, he had also stopped speaking English. There was no-one but the horse to talk to and he didn't see any point in that. He had gotten to where he hardly made any noise beyond a warning growl or snarl if other animals got too near. They understood that better than English any way.

By the time the shortest day of the year arrived, he had stopped even thinking in English. The feral part of him had taken over for the most part. He didn't walk upright anymore. He was able to move surer and faster down closer to the ground. He would stand now and again, but he did it mostly as a bear would – to get a better view or to intimidate another animal. The only exception was to tend to the horse. While it would be a stretch to say that the animal ever learned to like the other animal living in the stable with him, the horse had learned to tolerate Victor.

The grain was long gone and the hay dwindling when he began to let the horse out to paw for the dead grasses under the snow. But the cold was too intense and the food too meager. It didn't really surprise Victor to find that the animal had collapsed and died before the start of the new year. Not that time meant anything to him any more. In a deep part of him, there was a pang of mourning that his last living connection to humans was gone. The rest of him just settled down to feed on the emaciated remains.

He didn't even bother to look up at the slight noise nearby. The three coyotes that had witnessed his fight with the lynx and taken the scraps had been following in his wake ever since. They had quickly learned the distance he would tolerate them at and Victor was a consistant enough hunter that staying with him was worth their while. He also had the advantage, to their way of thinking, that he didn't feel the need to chase them around and make them waste what little energy they had. So long as they kept a respectful distance while he ate and responded to any snarl or growl from him, he didn't care if they were in sight. In a way, he had gotten used to their presense and began wary if he didn't know they were nearby as he ate. If they weren't near, that meant there was a bigger scavenger or another predator he needed to be guarding his kill from.

He ate his fill then moved off to drink, paying little attention as the trio ran over to begin feeding on what was left. If Jimmy could have seen him now, he might not have known him without the verification of scent. Victor's body had had the poor timing to hit a growth spurt at the beginning of fall and had grown over three inches since Jimmy's departure. He was nearing fifteen, was nearly six foot tall and still growing. He was lean, but muscular – too lean really, but the harsh winter hadn't allowed him to fill out the body frame nature had given him. His hair had grown shaggier and was currently tangled and matted. Not surprising as he was fairly dirty since the waters were far too cold to even entertain the thought of bathing in them – even if that thought had occurred to him, which it hadn't.

In fact, if anyone had seen him out hunting, they likely would have assumed they were catching a glimpse of a very large wild cat. Only if they managed to get a long enough view would they have been able to note the large expanse of skin were fur should have been. But no one was out traveling. Not in that weather.

The death of the horse also ended the final need for any routine in his life. The feral side took over completely and he was following its dictates without any questioning by mid-January. Compared to the previous two months, January was mild. Very cold and a fairly large snowfall, but few of the blizzard winds.

It was during this month as well that Victor abandoned the stable for a den he'd found. It wasn't very large and a bit musky smelling, but the size made it far easier for him to warm it with his own body heat. He still had enough reasoning to use the blanket to drag what was left of the hay he'd been using as bedding to the den. Settling down, he curled up and enjoyed the warmest sleep he'd had since the first snows fell.

During his short life, Victor had never had many of what people might call the civilizing influences. His experiences with sleeping in an actual bed were few. When his father had locked him in the cellar, he had to sleep on the floor without even a blanket. Upstairs hadn't been much better except that his corner was near the fireplace and he had a blanket there. Beatings had been frequent, meals sparse, education non-existant. Only Jimmy and his protective feelings toward his half-brother had anchored him - but Jimmy was gone now. With so little else to bind Victor to humanity, it probably wasn't so surprising that turning to the wild had only taken four short months.


	25. Chapter 25

**Part XXV**

The prospector camp was only miles away from where Victor was physically, but a world away in every other sense. Once it became obvious that the storms were going to keep them from their claims, all of the prospectors pitched in to make their camp as comfortable and as tight against drafts as they could.

On the days between storms, they allocated duties out to make sure as much got done as could be during that limited time. Some gathered clean snow and ice into barrels to be brought back inside to melt for water. Some gathered wood for the fire. Some did what repairs were needed from storm damage. Logan had one mission. Try to find food to add to their stores. Not that anyone would have been upset if he couldn't in this weather. They rarely even caught sight of an animal in the brief span between storms

But to their amazement, he rarely came back empty-handed. The catch might have been so scrawny as to have been the equivalent of a soup bone, but it was all welcome. Logan had the advantage of his nose to help him find what prey was left, even if it meant digging into burrows where some of the smaller animals were hibernating.

The storm days were full as well. Katie had discovered that he'd had a beginning education and she took some time with him daily to improve his reading skills. Their reading out loud from Katie's books and the newspapers kept by a couple of the prospectors made for entertainment on the long days of storms. One of the prospectors named Willie had what he referred to as a squeezebox and the music also helped to while away the hours.

Strangely enough, though the group fared very well until the new year, when the milder weather of January came, so did sickness in the form of fever combined with a deep crooping cough. Over half of the camp fell ill and Katie about worked herself into sickness from trying to tend to so many with the limited supplies she had. Despite her near heroic efforts, four of them were dead by mid-January. Wolver Tom did his best to console her, rightly pointing over that over twice that number would have been dead if not for her. Still, she looked wasted and defeated to Logan.

The next bout of sickness hit as the weather turned foul again in February. This time, only Logan and Wolver Tom were spared the effects, but the two of them didn't have the basic knowledge of nursing that Katie did. From her own sickbed, she advised them as best she could, but five of the remaining prospectors died including three that had just survived the last illness.

Logan helped Wolver Tom carry the bodies out to a snow bank.

"They hadn't had time enough to build their strength back up. Well, if nothing bothers 'em, we'll bury 'em when the ground thaws. Shame. Young fellers too. Shouldn't have turned their noses up to my tonic."

Logan gave him a puzzled look as they packed snow around the body.

"Tonic?"

"Welp, more a vinegar really. Came down to me from my Grandpappy who learnt it from his ma. My kinfolks have died from a lotta things, but not the sickness that comes from being in close places with other folks."

He pulled a thick amber bottle from his pocket, uncorked it and let Logan have a sniff. With his nose, he didn't have to get too near it before he was pulling away, making a face at the sour, pungent smell. Wolver Tom let out a laugh and recorked it.

"I can tell yer wonderin', pup. Yep, tastes even worse'n it smells. Our Katie gives me a look when she sees me take my daily nip. I've told her its my medicine, but she still gives me that look. But she don't say nutthin' 'cause I never take more'n one nip a day. Tarnation! Can't hardly stomach the one nip I do take and that's after taking it all my life."

He slid the bottle back into his pocket.

"Can't buy it, so I make me a fresh batch every spring. Don't know why it works nor how, but as my Grandpappy said, you don't argue with results. Nosiree you don't."

Logan just nodded. He'd learned by this point that even if Wolver Tom tended to be quiet around new folks, once he got started, he kept going. That didn't bother Logan though. It gave him something to listen to and, every now and again, the stories he told were interesting. But Wolver Tom's next comment took him off-guard.

"Missing yer brother, ain't ya? Yeah... still miss mine and guess he's been gone over twenty years now."

Logan blurted out "You had a brother?" before he realized how stupid that sounded. Wolver Tom just laughed at him though as he stopped to brush the snow off of himself.

"Yeah - I had a brother. Three sisters too, but they stayed back East. Was me and Vern had the itchy feet and come West. Ol' Vern, he made the mistake of having an evening with a gal who had a husband that owned a gun. Watch out fer jealous men, boy. They're worse'n rattlesnakes. Com'on, we'd best be gettin' back in. Clouds are comin' up fast an' Katie'll worry."


	26. Chapter 26

**Part XXVI**

It was a relief to them all when Spring finally arrived in late March. Counting Wolver Tom, four of the prospectors had lived to see it come. Katie had survived as well, though she was considerably paler and thinner than she had been the past fall. She brushed aside Logan's concern with a smile.

"Nothing wrong with me any more that some good sunshine and fresh air won't fix. Just sad we lost so many. I suspect the illness came with two of the younger prospectors that we lost. Disease seems to be able to do that in some folks. Just hold on to them until the conditions favor it and then attack. If we'd had access to better medicines or warmer rooms... ah, but that's like wishing for pulling a diamond out of a creek. And no guarantees that anything else might have saved them either. That's the hard part about nursing folks, Logan. Some times you can have everything you need and do everything right, but the patient still dies. Just no getting around it."

One thing Katie had decreed was that all the bedding was going to get a good boiling, so Logan spent a good portion of his morning hauling water and wood. But that afternoon, he went out with Wolver Tom to see about taking care of the bodies. There wasn't much left to see. Mostly just bones.

Wolver Tom took a closer look around and pointed to some tracks.

"Wolverines been having a feast, look like. Well, no need telling that to the others. Let's just bury th' bones. Bones is all that'd be left after awhile anyway."

"Woverines? Do they hunt wolves too?"

Wolver Tom just laughed as he leaned on his shovel.

"Naw. Rascals are mean enough to try, though. Don't think they aren't. Ones I've seen are mebbe a yard long, but nature managed to cram a grizzly bear temper inside that little package. Small, scrappy and damn near fearless."

The two went to work and stayed mostly silent after that. They laid the remaining bones into shallow graves that they piled over with rocks since the ground was still too hard to penitrate well. Once they finished, Wolver Tom pulled off his cap and stood by the piles.

"Ain't much o' a hand at this, but Katie'll feel better if she knows a few words were said over you boys. The Lord giveth - the Lord taketh away. Amen"

At that, he plopped his hat back onto his head. Seeing Logan's puzzled look, he just shrugged.

"Closest thing t' a prayer I know, pup. I'm sure you ain't mistakin' me for no missionary."

Shouldering the shovel, he headed back toward camp.

"Y'know, still some good daylight left. Why don't we see if we can find us some fresh meat for the pot? You head on, I'll catch up after I get my rifle."

Logan just nodded and headed into the hills. Burying the other prospectors just reminded him of Victor. He hadn't had a lot of time to dwell on losing him, but whenever something reminded him, it hurt. And right now he just couldn't get his brother off of his mind.

He froze then as realization slowly dawned. He was **smelling **something that reminded him of Victor. Only wilder? Logan couldn't believe his nose, but he started heading toward the scent as quickly as he could. And then he froze again.

When he saw the grimy nude figure that was crouched down on all fours, Logan's immediate reaction was to wonder what it was. His nose practically slapped his brain with the information, but his eyes didn't believe it. Finally, he spoke, but his voice wasn't much over a whisper.

"Victor?"

The blonde head snapped up at that and then their eyes met. Logan shuddered. He'd never seen Victor's eyes look like that. So dark. So animalistic. But somewhere in the depths of those eyes, he could see a faint spark of recognition. Then a voice, raw and rough from long disuse.

"Juh... Jimmy?"

A shotgun blast ripped into Victor's right shoulder. Snarling, he disappeared back into the surrounding rocks. Wolver Tom came into Logan's sight then, shaking his head.

"Consarn it, boy. Don't go standing face to face with a wildcat. Especially not one that size. Mangy-ish looking one I ever did see. Worse - if they act like they got no fear of you, they could well be rabid."

Logan didn't fight it when Wolver Tom grabbed him by the arm and started them back toward camp, but his keen hearing picked up the very distinct sound of a growl.


	27. Chapter 27

**Part XXVII**

There was something about the thaw starting that bothered Victor, but at first he couldn't remember what. Then, as he was started to feed on his newest kill, he saw the trio of coyotes waiting and he remembered. Dimly at first, but it slowly got sharper. There was another that was supposed to be running with him. He was supposed to go find him.

The coyotes were puzzled, but hardly displeased when Victor suddenly abandoned the barely-touched carcass and started toward the East. Of course, they had no way of knowing that they'd seen the last of their benefactor. Not that they would be in danger of starving now. Spring and its bounty of mice and other small prey was beginning to burst out all around them.

Victor's journey eastward was not as quick as Jimmy's had been. Jimmy had just headed East while Victor was constantly casting around trying to find signs of where Jimmy might have gone. Also, unlike Jimmy, Victor didn't have food with him, so he had to periodically stop to catch something and eat.

As it was, it took him about a week to catch a scent of his little brother, but that familiar scent was mixed up with those of several strangers. Victor couldn't quite recall why the other scents made him wary, but it was enough for him that they did. He didn't go into the camp or come too near to it. He found himself a small cave nearby and waited.

The spring melt hadn't started here yet due to the higher elevation, but by the time the melt had started in earnest, Victor had a fair idea of the surroundings and what he was facing. A female, four unrelated males and his brother. There were bitter tangs of illness and death hanging in the air, but none of that seemed to be attached to his brother and so was dismissed as not being of any concern.

He'd just finished eating his morning catch one day when the scent of a new fire caught his attention and Victor went to investigate. Perching in a tree, he was thoroughly puzzled as the female dumped blankets into a pot over the fire. How hungry were these humans that they would even consider cooking those to eat? The female certainly wasn't plump, but she wasn't even close to what Victor would consider starving.

He got his first good look at Jimmy as well. Good health, decently fed. Part of him was pleased with that observation, part of him was annoyed. He'd hoped to find his brother alive, but hadn't expected that he'd find Jimmy in better condition than he himself was. An old pang of jealousy reared its head, but was firmly squashed back down. He'd found his brother. That was the important thing.

When his brother went with an older male, Victor followed at a respectable distance. His ears picked up the man talking, but so far as Victor could make out, he wasn't saying much. He simply tuned out the man's yapping and watched. Why they were messing with bones already stripped of meat was beyond his current ability to fathom as was the way they were laying the bones into shallow holes that the older man dug. It was when they started piling the stones that another memory struck and he growled to himself. He'd been at the bottom of one of those piles before.

The two finished making their piles and separated. Victor had backed away, but was still watching when Jimmy crossed one of the places he'd been. The way Jimmy's head jerked, Victor could tell that his brother had found his scent now. Good. He moved to a better position for the meeting. Jimmy would come and then? They would leave together. Things would be back as they should be.

The expression on Jimmy's face when they met and when he spoke his name made Victor a bit angry. He didn't recognize him? Had he forgotten his scent in just one season? He looked into Jimmy's eyes and dug down deep into himself. He had to find the language that was more than growls and snarls and yips.

"Juh… Jimmy?"

Then his shoulder exploded into fiery pain at the same time that the sound of a shotgun going off reached his ears. He snarled, as much at himself as at the pain. He'd been concentrating so hard, he'd forgotten to keep alert for the men. He darted away behind the rocks, expecting that Jimmy would follow him.

By the time he realized that Jimmy had stayed where he was, it was too late. The man was already with Jimmy, grabbing his arm and taking him away.

Victor's eyes narrowed with pure, hot hatred as he growled. He would wait until he healed and then? Then that man would pay, both for the pain in his shoulder and for taking away what was his.


	28. Chapter 28

**Part XXVIII**

As soon as he was able to get back out of the camp without drawing notice, Logan headed back out to look for signs of his brother. Part of him still didn't beleive that it was Victor. His nose called that part of him an idiot.

He had a tightly rolled bundle with him. Clothing that had been left behind by those who had died over the winter along with some food and a sheathed blade.

He smelled the blood then and knew that every other preditor for miles likely did as well. He cast around for a minute to determine which direction the scent was the freshest in and then began to track the path his brother had taken.

When he found the shallow cave, the deep throated growl from within told him that he'd found the right place.

"Victor?"

The voice was still rough from disuse and sounded more like a wildcat imitating a boy than the other way around.

"Leadin' yer new pals in fer th' kill, Jimmy?"

Victor had already circled and tested the air before speaking. Jimmy had shown no sign of noticing him. Damn. Had being with those others softened the kid up that quickly?

"Ain't like that, Victor. Wolver thought you were a wildcat. Couldn't figure out how t' tell him different."

The rumbling was loud as Victor finally came into sight, dried blood now mixed with the dirt on his body.

"What? You ain't claimin' me as yer brother no more."

That brought a flush to Logan's face.

"I did tell 'em I have a brother. But I also told 'em he died. I thought you were dead, Victor."

"Hell, you already fergit that bear? We don't kill so easy, Jimmy."

Logan snapped back at him.

"I know that! I also know that you weren't breathin'. An' I couldn't hear or feel a heartbeat."

Victor picked Jimmy up and dumped his sassy butt into a fairly deep snowbank, then sat back, thinking. Jimmy came back out spluttering, cursing a few curses Vic had never heard before. Must of picked that up from that camp. When he saw Victor sitting thoughtfully, he calmed down and sighed.

"I never woulda left if I'd known there was any life left in you at all, Vic. I swear it."

Lightning quick, Victor grabbed Logan's arm and pulled him over, looking and sniffing him over thoroughly before releasing him with a satisfied grunt.

"Well, they ain't starved or mistreated you, at least."

That made a smile quirk up. Victor had slid right back into protective mode again.

"Nope. They ain't bad, honest. They thought you were a wild animal. Brought you some clothes. We'll have to figure a way t' explain you, but you could come back with me."

Looking over the bundle, Victor smelled the scent of other men on them, then quirked a brow at his brother.

"Who'd ya steal these from?"

"Nobody. Not everyone lived through th' winter. Wolver says clothes an' food ain't part o' th' creed."

"Creed? What's that?"

"Some set o' rules they go by. Like you don't jump another man's claim an' if he leaves somethin' o' value, you try an' get it to his kin if he's got any."

"Huh."

Not saying anything else, Victor headed for the stream that wasn't far away. It was icy, but he was used to that by now. As Logan watched, Victor cupped up the water and scrubbed off the blood and a little of the dirt.

"Victor? I guess I should tell you that they know me as Logan."

That got a pause and another look.

"Huh."

One of the two pairs of pants didn't fit at all, so he used his claws on them and made strips that he wound around his feet. The other pair of pants was pulled on then he looked over the shirts. The smaller one was put on first followed by the other. He turned the rope that had been around the bundle into a makeshift belt, then settled for a minute to eat what food had been brought. Then he pulled out the knife, looking over the blade before resheathing it.

"Well, let's go look at this bunch yer with 'fore they come lookin' for you."

There wasn't a response and finally Victor looked over to his brother, who took a deep breath before speaking.

"Vic? I know one of them hurt you, but they didn't mean it. Don't go for blood. I owe them."

Eyes narrowing, Victor considered that.

"Fine. But you don't owe 'em nutthin' no more. This evens it. An' they try comin' at me again, it'll be th' last time they try anything."

"Agreed. Let's go."


	29. Chapter 29

**Part XXIX  
><strong>  
>Logan led the way back to the prospector camp with Victor following several feet behind, extremely wary. Frustrating as it was, Logan really couldn't blame Victor for being that way. After all, just looking at his older brother was enough to tell a lot of stories of just how bad the winter had been for him. There were a hundred questions he wanted to ask and just as many that he didn't know that he wanted to know the answer to.<p>

Everyone in the camp stopped what they were doing as Logan came back with a stranger in tow. None of them had even known that Logan had left the camp. Wolver Tom took one look and an instant dislike to the newcomer. When their eyes met and he found himself looking into eyes that reminded him of a mountain lion, Wolver Tom knew his dislike was returned measure for measure.

Katie, on the other hand, saw a half-starved boy. A large boy, to be sure, and not far from being a man, but not there yet. She swept over to him, having no idea that the only thing saving her from his claws was the fact that his experience with women was extremely limited and they had not been the ones to cause him pain.

"Landsakes. Poor thing. Look like something the cat drug in. Where did you come from? Are you by yourself?"

Victor just gave her a long look at the flurry of questions, then decided to stick close to the truth.

"Was traveling with family, but we got attacked and separated. Near the end of winter, horse starved - couldn't find enough food t' keep him goin'. Barely found enough t' keep me goin'. Ran across a wildcat that seemed half-crazy. I got away, but lost what supplies I had left."

When Katie reached out to touch him, her first thought that he was much like a wild thing himself, skittish and ready to either run or fight if cornered too much. She totally ignored the looks from Wolver Tom that plainly said he'd prefer it if this new male left.

"Logan? Why don't you start some more water heating and get what's already hot in the tub for me?"

Instinctively, Katie hits on the right tone to use with Victor - firm, soft and gentle, but not talking down to him. Logan wasn't sure how to take this turn of events, but was just grateful that the woman latching onto Vic was keeping even the most disagreeable of the men at bay. He did as she requested, then left to haul more water for the kettle.

For her part, Katie seemed determined to see what exactly lay underneath the matted hair and accumulated grime. Leading him into the building where she does everything from cooking to laundry to doctoring, Katie just keeps up a soft pitched running commentary that keeps the rough-hewn boy settled down. Still, she didn't realize exactly what she was up against though until she pointed him in the direction of the tub which Logan had just finished filling with hot water. Vic just looked at it and then looked back at her, puzzlement very evident on his face before he finally spoke.

"Yer wanting me t' wash out blankets or somethin'?"

That stopped Katie dead in her tracks and she looked over him again.

"Where do you bathe?"

"Streams mostly."

"You've never bathed indoors?"

Victor just gave her a look like she must be half-crazy.

"Ain't never seen a stream indoors. Have you?"

Shaking her head, Katie just sighed.

"Well, my lad. First time for eerything. Take off those clothes you have on and put them over there."

That was her next surprise as he just stood there without going behind the screen and stripped. He was as unconcerned about being nude as a newborn babe would have been. After the initial shock, she felt a rush of pity.

"How long have you been without a mother, child?"

The question took him by surprise and he paused before answering.

"Been a long time. Don't really recall what she looked like any more."

She patted the side of the wash tub.

"I do wash out the blankets and such in here, but right now, we'll use it to wash you. Come along. If you're used to washing in cold water, hot water shouldn't be a trial to you."

It took a bit more coaxing, but she finally talked him into it, chuckling a little at his expression at his first time being surrounded by hot water. She began working a bit with his hair, then sighed.

"We may have to cut off a fair bit, child. The matting is about as bad as I've seen."

"Don't bother me none."

"Call me Katie. And what is it we should be calling you?"

He hesitated for a moment. Jimmy had taken their father's name, so he guessed he needed a new one for himself. Then the word Jimmy mentioned came back to him. Seemed as good a name as any.

"Creed. Victor Creed."


	30. Chapter 30

**Part XXX**

To the surprise of all the men in the camp and Logan's initial dismay, Katie took to Victor and the thin blond was rarely out of her sight. Victor responded positively to her care and Logan suddenly found himself understanding what Victor must have felt when he'd watched his little brother get the lion's share of Sinopa's attention.

As the day's continued to warm, Victor's form began to fill out and the prospectors grew even more wary of the young man who was different than any sort of man they'd come across before. Because the food made the difference and it was now a young man instead of a scrawny boy at Katie's side. Only Katie and Logan called him Victor. Everyone else just called him Creed. At least to his face. Behind his back, there were a few less flattering names he was called.

It didn't take long for Vic's strength and stamina to return and once it did, he began to act as a provider again, but not just for himself and Logan. Katie was the one that was given the bulk of his catches. He rarely went near, spoke with or even acknowledged the other men. It was late spring when two of the prospectors teamed up to try to 'beat some respect' into him. The speed with which Victor won the fight didn't win him the respect of the other men, but it did win him their fear. Which was fine by him. Victor really didn't give a damn if any of them were friendly with him or not. He had his brother nearby again and he had a woman - who was currently confusing the hell out of his hormones.

It all put Logan in an awkward position. Not that Victor particularly cared. As he pointed out rather heatedly to his younger brother when they were off to themselves, Logan had been the one to invent the fiction that they both now had to live by. So far as Katie went, Vic liked her and she liked Vic. Wasn't anyone else's business. After Vic tossed Logan into the river to emphasize his point, Logan conceded.

Still, it made Logan uncomfortable when the day came that Katie took up a blanket and went walking off with Vic. Katie was considerably older than Vic, but nowhere near enough to be his mother. She considered herself very much still in her prime. As far as Vic went, he knew he had begun to have urges, but he didn't have any workable knowledge about how such things went. It didn't take him long to find he had a very willing teacher in Katie. And he was a very apt student.

Logan quickly grew used to the new status quo and accepted it. If the weather was decent, Katie and Vic would go for a 'walk' most days. Days when the weather was less favorable, Logan and Vic would go off hunting together while Katie did such sewing as was needed and tended to the other things that made camp life bearable.

The problem came when the prospectors began to figure out what Vic and Katie's 'walks' were all about. Once they put together what was happening, it broke the subtle balance that Katie hadn't even known existed. So long as no-one was getting her 'favors', everyone had respected her boundaries. Now that favors were being given, jealousy reared its head. Katie was, literally, the only woman around for miles. Of course, once one man made a suggestion Katie's way that she responded badly to - followed by Creed wiping the floor with that man - they all knew that route wasn't the way to go.

By mid-summer, Katie's scent had shifted and Victor started taking an even dimmer view of anyone else getting too close to the woman and became less likely to be away from her side for very long. But one rainy day, Katie expressed having a taste for venison. Logan teased Vic somewhat about the lengths he'd go to for Katie, but he agreed to join in the search for deer easily enough. As the brothers headed off together for the hunt, the others saw their opportunity.

Wolver Tom got wind of what was up and tried to talk some sense into the men, but he was out numbered. More to the point, they'd known he was likely to disapprove, so they taken the time to secure his gun awat. Much as Wolver Tom didn't care for Creed, he cared even less for what the others had in mind. Katie was like a daughter to him. It didn't take much debate - Katie needed to be protected and he couldn't do it by himself. Decision made, Wolver Tom grabbed his hat and went on the search for Creed and Logan. He just hoped that the pair hadn't ventured out too far.


	31. Chapter 31

**Part XXXI**

Logan leapt, easily clearing a low lying shrub as they ran, feeling better than he had in months. He'd almost forgotten how it felt to not only be running without holding back, but with his brother at his side. Part of it was the same as before, but there was a wilder edge to Vic now than Logan couldn't quite wrap his mind around. A small piece of him was leery of that wild - the rest of him welcomed it like spring rain. The scent of that wild part practically sang to him and he cast a grin over to his brother who was also clearly enjoying the run. They took a long, hard run just for the sheer pleasure of it before circling back and beginning their hunt near the same point where their run had started.

For Victor, life had kicked up a notch to the point that he hardly thought about their separation time any longer. He was a wild thing and right now, he was was fed, warm, with his brother and hunting to feed a mate carrying his cub. That thought didn't really worry him. He'd managed keeping Jimmy fed through a hard winter and Jimmy hadn't even known the first thing about hunting or surviving. If he could teach Jimmy, he could teach his own cub.

There was a whole list of questions running around Logan's head and, being that Vic was in a good mood, now seemed as good a time as any to ask him.

"Vic? What changed with Katie? Her scent, I mean?"

Slowing down his run, Victor studied his half-brother a little closer.

"Forgot just how isolated you were up in th' big house, Runt. Katie's gonna be havin' a kid."

"Yours?"

"Mine."

"She's older'n you."

"Yep. She is. That supposed t' make a difference?"

"I - I ain't sure."

"Well, don't matter t' me and' don't seem like it matters t' her none. It matter t' you, Jimmy?"

There was a hesitation, but Logan finally shook his head.

"Nope, don't guess it does. Still seems odd though."

Chuckling, Vic reached out and light cuffed the back of his brother's head.

"Won't seem t' odd in another couple o' years, Runt. We'll have t' track down another gal then. I don't share."

"Who wants t' share with you anyways?"

The scent hit them and they both froze briefly before taking off, Vic in the lead this time. When they caught sight of the small group of white-tail from the top of a small rise, no more than a look between them was required to decide which one was their target.

Keeping their prey in sight, the pair slowly stripped off all their clothing save for their loin cloths then split up. They hadn't been gone long when Wolver Tom came to the top of the same rise that they'd left their clothes at. He stared at the top piles of clothing briefly before shifting his gaze, stopping breathless at the sight in front of him.

Logan was the first one that he spotted, but it didn't take him a lot longer to spot the taller blond. Both near naked as the day they were born and, he quickly figured out, hunting. Quiet as the trees near him, he continued to watch in an almost morbid fascination. He remembered Logan saying his brother had taught him how to hunt and Wolver Tom was now pretty damn sure that older brother hadn't died.

He had often watched wild animals on the hunt and Wolver Tom had no doubts that was what he was watching now. It didn't take long to figure that Logan was the one cutting the target deer away from the others and sending the buck toward where the blond was waiting. Watched as Creed made a leap onto the back of the buck that was far more mountain lion than man, his weight taking the struggling buck down before his hand raked across the throat, killing it.

He felt as if he was frozen in place as Logan quickly joined Creed and the two of them butchered the animal with an ease that confirmed his earlier suspicion. This was far from the first time that the two of them had done this in tandem, sharing the organ meats between them - eating them while they still had living warmth in them. The rest of the carcass was divided up and he felt his eyes growing larger - not at the sight of the claws extending from the ends of Creed's fingers, but from the longer and more pronounced set of claws that had emerged from Logan's hand to slice through the muscles and tendons of the buck.

Logan stayed by the meat to keep away other predators while Creed went to the nearby stream to rinse the blood off of his skin. When Creed came back, Logan took his own turn to clean himself off. He was just about finished when the wind shifted and brought the scent of Wolver Tom to him. And to his brother.

Cursing the wind as he saw two sets of eyes fasten on him, Wolver Tom had to use every bit of nerve he had not to start running. If this was his death, he'd meet it head on. Besides, he'd seen the two in motion and knew that there wasn't a chance in hell of him outrunning the pair. They weren't rushing at him though. They were slowly and deliberately gathering the meat that they intended to take back to the camp.

Thinking about the camp suddenly reminded Wolver Tom about why he'd been tracking the pair in the first place. As soon as they were close enough that he could talk to them without yelling, he started explaining himself.

"Didn't mean to intrude, but there's problems back at camp. Some of the boys have got it in their heads that Katie's not being fair keeping herself to Creed. And they mean to do something about it."

It took two beats for the implications to sink in and, for a minute, Wolver Tom thought he was about to die as Creed roared - literally roared and leaped, dropping the load he'd been carrying. But Creed wasn't going at him, he was going past him like a hellcat. He turned to watch as the large blond quickly disappeared from sight.

"My God. What have I unleashed on them?"

The growl from behind suddenly reminded Wolver Tom that there was another brother to be dealt with, but despite the growling undertone, he could make out quite plainly what Logan had to say.

"Not a damn thing they don't deserve if they've touched Katie. Let's go."

Swallowing as he found his hands were shaking, Wolver Tom grabbed up part of the meat that Creed had been carrying and then hurried to follow after Logan.


	32. Chapter 32

**Part XXXII**

There was only so fast Logan and Wolver Tom could go without abandoning the meat, but they still went quicker than most. Then a sound rang out that had them both freezing in their tracks. A rifle shot. They weren't that far from camp so the meat was dropping and they both began to run only to stop dead at the sight in front of them.

Two of the prospectors had obviously run afoul of Creed and were trying to staunch their own wounds, but they were both expecting that. What they weren't expecting was for Creed to be on the ground – and for the rifle to be in Katie's hands as she looked down at the young blond in disgust and appeared to be readying a second shot to the head. Logan's voice rang out as he recovered from the shock.

"Katie! Don't!"

The look that she shot him was not a friendly one.

"He's a crazed animal. There's no choice in the matter."

The tone of voice Wolver Tom was using was the same as he used on spooked animals.

"Easy, Katie-girl. Put that rifle down. He was just meanin' to protect you."

"I don't want protection from that thing. I don't want anything from it. I -"

Whatever she had been about to say died in her throat as Creed slowly started rising off the ground. Even Wolver Tom took a step back as the blood covered man got to his feet. It took him a moment to get enough air back into his lungs to speak, dark mouth oozing from his mouth as he fixed equally dark eyes on Katie.

"I'll be back fer what's mine. An' so help me, if you hurt th' cub in any way, I pay you back fer that an' all o' this as well."

It took Katie a couple of moments to connect what he was saying, but when she did, she paled. For Creed's part, he turned his back to her even though the rifle was still in her hands. She still wasn't sure what he was, but she had seen enough to know that pulling the trigger again would be a huge mistake. Creed left the camp with a slow, but determined step.

Logan didn't call his brother back and watched until he was out of sight - mostly to try and make sure that Vic didn't end up being shot in the back. Once he was sure Vic was safely out of range, he gave Katie a hurt look and quickly began gathering what in the camp was his and Victor's. He was surprised when Wolver Tom approached him with a pair of saddled horses and helped him load them with their gear. Not that they had much.

"These horses belonged to those two young bucks. They don't need 'em no more. You and yer brother take care out there. More folks you meet'll be like Katie than will be like me."

The two looked at each other in silence then clasped hands for a minute before Logan mounted one of the horses and gathered the reins for the other to lead it. He rode out with a nod to Wolver Tom, but not a single word to Katie.

Watching as Logan headed off after Creed, Wolver Tom spoke to Katie.

"Dumbest thing I think I've ever seen a body do, Katie. You had a piece of the wild. Like being able to reach out and pet a cougar without having to fear losing yer hand. And instead of holdin' onto it, you threw a rock at that cougar and drove it off."

She was still staring in the direction they'd left in herself.

"I couldn't. I just couldn't have him near me no more. But why? Why did Logan leave?"

"Blood's thicker'n water, Katie. Logan's brother wasn't as dead as he'd thought he was. Why would he hang around here any more? Wait for you to decide he's too wild and shoot him too? Welp, guess fresh meat's gonna get in short supply. I'd best go retrieve what of that deer I can."

Wolver Tom started to move off, then stopped again.

"I'd take that boy right seriously, Katie. He says he's gonna come back? I'd bet money on him doing just that. Don't imagine Creed or Logan either one makes threats they don't plan to back."

It took Logan a little longer than he expected to catch up with his brother because Vic had dropped down and broke into a run once he was out of the camp. He had stopped at a stream to drink and wash some of the blood from his skin and it was there the Logan finally caught up to him. Logan could read the exhaustion on Vic - the run combined with the healing and the emotions had pretty much done his brother in. Vic looked over the horses, then looked up to Logan.

"You left them?"

For a second, Logan felt insulted. Almost as quickly, that emotion fled and he felt guilty. Knowingly or not, he'd left Victor behind when he was too hurt to take care of himself. He'd just have to prove himself. Starting now.

Logan dismounted and went over to kneel next to Vic. He still wasn't fully healed and Logan helped Vic ease back before making careful use of one of his claws to remove a bit of metal that Vic's body was slowly pushing back out.

"Yeah. I left them. No matter who or what they are, they ain't family, Vic. You are. If I'd had any notion that you weren't dead, I'd o' stayed by you. I know saying I wish I'd o' done things different don't change a thing, but we're together again. I ain't leavin'."

Vic's eyes just studied his brother's for a minute, then he reached out and clasped Logan's shoulder.

"I'm guessin' what I went into was some kinda hibernation like what some o' th' critters do durin' th' bad cold months. Guess that means me and you are even harder t' kill than we'd already figured, Jimmy."

"Vic? What do we do now?"

"For now, lil' brother? Two things. First, we get th' hell outta this area and find us a place t' stay. Second, we wait fer you t' finish growin' up. Then me an' you? We're goin' places."


	33. Chapter 33

**Part XXXIII**

The brothers traveled without saying much to one another for the next three days. Not that they had constantly talked before, but this silence wasn't the easy quiet that they'd shared before. It was more like the uneasy silence that falls between strangers. That sort of atmosphere could only last for so long with their temperaments. Everything finally came to a head on the fourth day.

They had set up a camp of sorts the night before and got ready to go on a hunt together just before the sun started to rise. Or rather, when the sun should have been rising. The skies were dark with swollen, black clouds and rumbles of thunder could already be heard as they silently got undressed. Stripping out of everything but a loin cloth before hunting was common sense. Clothing was hard to come by and the way they hunted was hard on the material - even more so when their prey fought back.

They started out, as usual, with a run. Just as they crested a hill, Logan came to a sudden stop as a brilliant flash of lightning lit the area with a blue-silver intensity. It was followed almost immediately by a near deafening boom of thunder and as the noise from that cleared, Logan heard the deep throated growling that he knew had only one source. Victor. He turned just in time to meet his brother's charge, then rain starting to fall in torrents as the two of them began a no-holds barred fight.

With the sun out of sight behind the clouds, there was no telling how long the fight lasted, but it went on for a long time. The lightning and thunder seemed to punctuate the violence that was taking place below. The ground beneath the two combatants quickly became slick with mud formed from both rain and blood. The fight would have ended long before between two normal men, but these were two whose wounds began healing even as new ones were created. What ended up finally calling an end to the struggles was pure exhaustion, both brothers finally collapsing into the mud, panting.

Afterwards, neither of them could say for sure who started it, but laughter began to bubble up and they were both caught up in it. The laughter was cleansing, seeming to wash away the uneasiness between them like the rain was washing away the blood they'd spilled just minutes before. And, oddly enough, Victor was the first to find his voice.

"Damn, that was good. You've put on some weight and muscle, little brother."

"Yeah - and you've lost some, big brother. That about make us even?"

The snort was loud enough to be heard over the rumble as the storm started to calm.

"Only in yer dreams, Runt. Hell, I shoulda waited until we made a kill. Coulda eaten after th' fight that way."

"Helluva way to blow off tension, Vic. We good now?"

"Yeah. We're good. Just needed that outta my system. Once the kid's born, everything else'll be outta my system too."

Shoving himself up into a seated position, Logan decided to get his question out of the way while Victor was likely still too tired to swat him for it.

"Vic? What are we gonna do with a kid?"

A small frown formed as Victor shoved some of the water-soaked blond hair out of his face.

"Dunno. But I ain't gonna leave somethin' of my blood behind to be treated like I was treated as a youngster."

Logan wasn't sure whether or not to pursue it any further, but Victor was talking right now and there was no telling when he might do it again.

"It was really that bad?"

Tilting his head up, Victor was quiet for a few minutes to the point where Logan had about decided that the question was going to be ignored. But Vic finally began speaking.

"My eyes and ears never were normal lookin'. Had teeth young too - sharp ones. Hardly ever got to get any fresh air. Almost never got to see the sun. Never knew whether or not I'd get fed. 'Specially after Ma died. She wasn't much, but at least she'd toss me scraps. Yeah - it was really that bad, Jimmy."

But then with a catlike move, Victor was on his feet.

"Both of 'em are dead now, so don't matter no more. Only reason to bother rememberin' it is to keep the same from happenin' to what's mine. You saw how Katie was. You think she'd take decent care of a kid of mine?"

Looking off into the distant and taking a long sniff, Victor let the rain rinse some of the mud off his skin.

"You're right though. I don't know squat about raisin' a youngun and I might screw up and it might die. But if it does, it'll die with someone at least tryin' t' take care of it. Hell, mebbe the kid'll be born like you an' I could find someone to raise it. Least until it hits age like you did."

"So you're guessing your kid will be like us?"

That got Logan another shrug.

"Look at nature, Jimmy. What lives, the fast deer or the slow one? We got somethin' inside us that makes us able to survive better'n anyone else I've ever seen. If it was just onna us, I'd agree with Pa and call freak. But you an' me are more alike than we are different. So yeah - I think we'll pass what we are or somethin' like it to our kids."

"Your . . . our Pa called you a freak?"

That got another snort.

"Believe me, Runt. That was the nicest thing he ever called me. I was serious though, Jimmy. Ain't any point wastin' our time thinkin' about that old bastard. Come on - get up off yer lazy butt, boy. Let's go find us some food. Hell, I'm hungry enough, I'd even eat rabbit."

Logan stretched and got back up himself, chuckling.

"What is it with you and rabbits? Meat's meat, ain't it?"

"One day I'll sit you down with a steak on one plate and a rabbit on another and see which one you reach for. Sayin' all meat is the same is like sayin' a carrot tastes like an onion 'cause they both grow in the ground."

"Fine. We gonna hunt or you gonna keep jabberin' and hope you talk somethin' to death, Vic?"

Before Logan had even finished getting the entire question out of his mouth, Victor had flashed him a wicked grin and taken off. Cursing under his breath, Logan headed off after him, then suddenly found himself starting to smile. The silence had returned, but not the feeling of distance between them. The gap had closed - he had his brother and pack-mate back again.


	34. Chapter 34

**Part XXXIV**

It didn't take long for Logan to figure out that him holding his own in a fight with Victor had earned him adult status in his older brother's eyes. That proved to be a mixed blessing. The patience Victor had extended to Jimmy the boy didn't carry over to Jimmy the man. Victor listened to Logan's input now and even seriously considered it, but still considered any end decision was his. The pair got into any number of fights as the end of summer passed into fall, sometimes over a disagreement, but just as often, it was for the pure fun of it.

By the time the autumn leaves were starting to fall thickly, both had gained muscle and weight, Victor more than Logan. The extra inches of height he'd gained in his final growth spurt filled in, giving Victor more of a presence. In terms of size, Logan guessed most people would equate Victor with a bear, but bears couldn't move with the natural grace that Victor had. Thinking back to a drawing in one of the books he'd had as a child, it was the lion that came to mind when he thought of his brother and he mentioned that as they were taking a walk to survey the new area they'd come to.

Victor stopped and gave him a bemused look.

"Ain't exactly fair, y'know, Jimmy. You saying I remind you of some critter I've never laid eyes on. You could be insulting me for all I know."

"I've never laid eyes on a real one myself, Vic. I just had a book that talked about them and had a drawing of them, but it's not an insult. They're one of the biggest cats in the whole world."

Logan could tell he had Victor's interest, which was a very rare thing when he was talking about something from a book.

"That a fact? So, just how big is big? How large did your book say they are?"

Brow furrowing, Logan wished he had the book with him, but the section on big cats had been one that had fascinated him, so he could remember some of the facts about them.

"You'd probably be about the right size for a young one, Vic. They get around six to seven feet long, not counting their tails and I think it said they weigh near about four hundred pounds."

Caught between being impressed and disbelieving, Victor finally just shook his head.

"Mighty big kitty. I'd like to get a look at one someday. They don't live anywhere around here though, do they?"

"Nope. They live over in Africa, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. Only way one would be over here is if someone brought one over for a zoological park or a menagerie."

Logan went quiet as that brought back a memory of his mother. She'd promised once that when he got stronger, they would all go over to England and see the London Zoological Park, which had opened just four years before he was born. Victor didn't notice as he was caught up in his own thoughts.

"What's a zoo-thing, Jimmy?"

Coming out of his thoughts, Logan shrugged.

"Never seen one of them either, but I was told they're full of cages where folks keep all different kinds of animals for other folks to come look at and study."

Frowning, Victor started walking again.

"Sounds lousy for the critters, Jimmy. If a lion is more like me than just in looks, ain't no way it'd wanna spend its life in a damn cage."

Victor's eyes looked more cattish than usual as he turned his head toward Logan.

"There's folks that'll want to do that to us too, Runt. Chain or cage us. Keep that in mind."

"Why? We aren't animals, Vic."

Victor faced forwards again and Logan barely caught his next words.

"Mebbe you ain't."

Scowling, Logan grabbed hold of his brother's arm.

"I don't care what our father called you, Vic. You ain't an animal either. You're a man."

Victor looked down at Logan's hand, then chuckled before reaching over with his own hand to ruffle Logan's always unruly hair.

"I know you think that might make me feel good, but I'll be honest with you, lil brother. I ain't seen much in men to be proud of. Katie sure didn't think I was a man, now did she?"

Sighing, Logan let go of Vic's arm.

"I still don't get why she shot you."

"Cause she thinks like Pa did. Wonder what she thinks that says about her. Cub should be getting big enough to start slowing her down by now."

Taking a deep breath, Victor looked over the area and changed the subject.

"I'm thinking this might be a good spot for us to winter. We need to settle pretty quick if we're gonna have a place ready for us and the horses before first snows fly."

Following Victor's lead, Logan took a deep breath as well, quietly trying to sort out all of the different scents. Water within range. Game animals. Other predators, but nothing big enough to worry the two of them.

"Seems better than any we've come across since we left the mining camp, Vic. You think we'll be able to keep the horses going through the winter?"

"Mebbe. Depends how deep the snows get and how long the hard cold stays. Gets too bad, we'll end up eatin' 'em. Don't get that look, Jimmy. We let 'em go wild, they'll still get eaten and their meat'll make some other predator strong instead of us."

"I know. Don't mean that I gotta like it."

"There, see? You're growin' up, Jimmy. Part of it is figurin' out that life ain't fair."

"Growing up isn't as pleasant as I'd thought it would be, Vic."

"I never expected it to be pleasant. Actually, even with all the shit that's happened, still mostly better than I figured things would be. I could do with avoiding gettin' shot again though. That shit hurts."

"I'll take your word on that, Vic. I'd just as soon not find out about that for myself."

Snorting, Victor moved to check over a cave that he'd spotted.

"Good choice. Jimmy, come make those claws of yours useful. Clear away some of th' brush."

Logan grumbled about it, but he made short work of clearing the mouth of the cave. Victor entered cautiously, sniffing and feeling his way around.

"Not real big, but should be enough room for the four of us."

"Four of us? You mean the horses will be in here with us?"

"Where else, Jimmy? They'll be in the back, we'll be in the front."

"But won't it - I mean, won't the smell bother you?"

Laughing, Victor shook his head.

"By the time Spring rolls back around, you won't be smellin' like a petunia yerself. When bad weather rolls in, we'll want as much body heat inside these walls as we can get. I don't want to go through another winter like last winter if I can avoid it. I know that I can survive bein' cold, but I'd rather be warm."

Then Victor took a better look at Logan and sobered.

"Guess this'll be a harder winter for you than it was wintering over at the minin' camp. You sure you don't want to head back there and stay the winter with them again?"

That was answered by Logan with an emphatic shake of his head.

"We got through our first winter together. We'll get through this one and we'll do even better. We both know a lot more now than we did two years ago."

"That's true enough, lil brother. We got more than we had back then as well. Head on back and bring the horses here and I'll see about gettin' us some fresh meat for supper. We might not want to start sleepin' in the cave for awhile yet, but we may as well stayed camped near it. Weather can turn real quick this time o' year."

Even though the horses hadn't been left alone all that long, Logan quickly saw exactly what Victor had been talking about. There were several interested predators already in the area and the scent of them had the horses edgy. They were never totally at ease with Logan and Victor either, but the two of them were at least familiar scents by now. Logan gathered their reins in his hand. He considered the terrain they needed to cross and decided to lead both of them instead of attempting to ride there since he'd end up spending most of the ride ducking branches.

Coming back on foot leading two slightly skittish horses took longer than just walking back by himself would have taken. They'd given him a hard enough time that the thought of possibly having to eventually eat one or both of them wasn't bothering his conscience as much as it had been.

The horses caught scent of the fresh blood at about the same time Logan did. It made them fractious, it made him hungry. Scowling at them, he gave their reins a jerk.

"Settle down. You aren't the ones on the table."

Victor was smirking as he came over to give Logan a hand.

"We'll tie them up over there and let 'em crop grass. Way the wind is right now, that'll keep them from scenting the blood as bad."

"Good idea. They've been tryin' to jerk my arm from my shoulder. Smells real good though. What did you catch?"

"Young buck. Just comin' into his first antlers. Want to bother with cookin' it?"

Logan shook his head.

"We'll need to go ahead and cook whatever we don't eat though, so I guess we need to go ahead and get a fire going."

"I can still get a fire goin' better than you. I'll start the fire, you butcher th' buck. Don't mess the hide up. We'll have use for that down the road."

"Right, Vic."

As Logan split the liver and passed half of the still warm organ over to his brother, Logan took a moment to look at what he held in his hands and remembered the first meal he and Victor had on their own. Stale bread and cheese. How long had it been before he'd dared try the taste of raw meat? Probably not during their whole first year. How had Victor put up with him back then? Taking a healthy bite of the liver, Logan turned his attention back to the job at hand, not knowing that his brother was watching him with more than a little pride in his gaze. And smiling.


End file.
